A New Kind Of Game (Old)
by JustAnOrdinaryWriter
Summary: The old version of the rewrite that a lot of my old fans were requesting. Hoping it's still allowed up so my fans can still enjoy it and look back on it while the new one improves. Don't forget to check out the updated version.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Minecraft of any of the associated material written about in this story. I only own my OCs.**

Chapter 1

Pain comes in many varying levels. It can be from something as small as a paper cut to something as painful as smacking your hand on the side of a table as you walk by. To me though, nothing compares with the pain of getting out of bed in the morning. I mean picture this: you're flying high above the clouds in the night sky over a brightly lit city, buildings winking up at you as you pass by. You feel the wind rush pass your face, providing a nice consistent cool breeze and you're feeling just about as good you can. Then, boom, without warning you're snatched away from that awesome fabricated reality and forced back into the real one. Ugh, mornings are the worst. Why did it have to be morning already? It was Monday and I was really dreading going to school today. We had a test today and I really wasn't looking forward to it. I rolled over, hoping for at least another five minutes.

My eyes snapped open. This wasn't my bed! Agh! Geez, since when did the sun get so bright? I lifted my hand to shield my already fried pupils and waited for the piercing white blanket to fade from my vision. Once it did, I swear my eyes almost popped out of my sockets. Awestruck, I stared out at the incredibly flat, low-cut grass, the perfectly cubed bark of the surrounding trees, and the shifting pale clouds in the sky that shared this same impossible symmetry. This definitely wasn't my bed…or my room. I seemed to be in some sort of clearing, with small trees surrounding me and a pond off to my left.

I could have dealt with being mysteriously thrown into a forest, sure. That didn't bother me. At least that would have been logical. That was at least something that _does_ happen on Earth. But the environment around me, the forest, the ground, the sky, they were…BLOCKS! I still couldn't believe what I was seeing. In fact, I didn't. It took me raising my hand and literally slapping myself one good time to snap me out of my trance. The sting from the slap was way too life-like to make me think I was in a dream. This was real.

_So, ok. I'm in minecraft. Weird and a little…terrifying, but ok._ I got up and looked over myself while I calmed down. I was wearing black cargo plants accompanied with my favorite plain light blue t-shirt. I had on my regular black sneakers and I even spotted my favorite black fedora on the grass next to me. I picked it up, dusting it off briefly before putting it on. How did I end up with these clothes? There were mine, but I certainly didn't remember putting any of this on before bed, but I guess I couldn't complain. Showing up in my boxers would have been a bit embarrassing.

I ran a hand through my short, brown hair. It was warm from the sun's rays, making me wonder just how long I'd been laying there. I started to walk when I felt a few things bump against my leg from my inside my pocket. I checked them and was surprised to find quite a few of my belongings. My portable MP3 player, equipped with a full battery and headphones, my silver cross necklace, and my watch. Again, I wondered how these items got into my pockets, considering I'd taken them all off before bed and placed my MP3 player back on the charger. But, taking into account the clothes I was wearing that I wasn't supposed to have, I had no choice but to shrug it off. For now anyway.

I checked my watch. It was just after half past three. That wasn't exactly encouraging. As a player, I knew of the many dangers that lurked through the night. I took my best guess and concluded that I probably had a couple hours until night. I'd have to either make myself a shelter before then or find a village. The latter would probably take longer than just building myself a temporary shelter.

I walked up to the nearest tree. It was exactly textured like it would have been if I'd been playing with my avatar. I placed my hand against the light oak wood. The bark felt solid against my palm. It felt real, just like any other tree on earth would have. It even had all the irregularities and nicks you'd find on any tree back on Earth. I gave it a light tap with my fist. No crack appeared. Duh. Of course it wouldn't be that easy.

With a breathe, I drew my hand back to my waist, focusing on the spot I was going to hit and threw a hard punch right into the middle block of the tree! I sucked my teeth and shouted out as fresh pain rippled across my knuckles! I pulled my now throbbing hand away and stared at the tree with resentment. That had hurt. A lot! To make it worse, a tiny crack appeared for a second, but then disappeared. It was like the game was taunting me.

"Ha ha." I said to myself bitterly, rubbing my hand over the red spots that dotted my knuckles. "Guess that leaves trying to find a village."

I knew villages were scarce when you spawned in the game. You were lucky if you could find one within a few hundred blocks. They were mainly present in the plains and desert biomes, but I was in neither. The odds weren't exactly in my favor, but I didn't really have another choice. All I could do was pick a direction and pray for the best. So, that's what I did.

I picked what I thought was west and started moving at a slow-paced jog. I kept jogging and looking around at my surroundings as I passed by tree after tree. Every so often I could spot a cow or a sheep roaming around. They would often turn their weird, blocky heads at me and look at me with their large, rectangular eyes before going back to roaming or eating some tall grass. I guess they didn't perceive me as a threat. And no way to hunt, I couldn't blame them. No sign of a change in biome though.

I took short breaks every half hour or so. Eventually, I'd gotten hungry, so I started looking in the trees during that time to see if I could find some apples. I was successful in spotting some, but not very good at getting them down. It took me a five precious minutes just to get one! They were interesting though, to say the least. The entire thing was like a three-dimensional lego replica without the connecting pieces or holes. It was very bumpy and looked as solid as the wood on the trees.

I took a bite and was surprised at how rich it tasted. It had to have been the best apple I'd ever tasted! However, a weird thing about eating it was that every time I took a bite, it would come out as a perfect square before I chomped down on it. I almost choked on the first bite! Nonetheless, I learned to take smaller ones and continued on through the forest.

I'd been jogging, climbing, and walking for a while now and the sun was about halfway through its trip to the ground. I looked at my watch to see the time was now half past six. It turned out that I had a little more time than I'd guessed, but I still hadn't found a village or any other good means of shelter.

Slowly but surely, the sun completed its descent and night washed over the forest. I began hearing strange noises of the mobs spawning out in the forest. Let me tell you something, there's nothing worse than being lost in a dark forest hearing the clanking of bones, moans of zombies, and slurps of spiders all without any means to defend yourself. It was very frightening! But as much as I wanted to run for my life, I forced myself to walk, opening up my sense of hearing and sight. Running and making noise would only attract the mobs to me. It would have to be saved as a last resort.

I was doing ok for about the first ten minutes into the night. But, my luck didn't hold out any longer than that. All of a sudden, I heard a loud screech and I looked up just in time to dive out of the way of a spider that would've crushed me flat!

Now, I've never really had a fear of spiders, but let me tell you. This spider _made_ me afraid of spiders! It was huge! About half the size of your average car! And that wasn't the end of it. It had eight glowing red eyes, saliva that dripped from two very large, sharp, fangs and six hairy, blocky, legs. It let out another ear-popping screech that snapped me back to reality. I turned tail and ran!

The ground trembled slightly as the six legged beast kept in pursuit. I whizzed by tree after tree and tried to keep my path as narrow as I could, trying to get as many trees between me and the spider to slow down my attacker. It worked somewhat, but I was never going to lose it this way.

Suddenly, an arrow whizzed right in front of my face and struck a tree I'd just passed! Shocked, but still moving, I turned my head to see a skeleton loading another arrow into his boy with his thin, blocky, fingers. His eye sockets glowed red inside a cracked skull, as he tracked my path. It was like something out of a bad horror movie. I ran faster.

The trees were getting denser, thank god! My arachnid foe was starting to fall behind! I kept going, my breathing coming in and out rapidly. I heard an angry screech from behind me. It knew it was falling behind. I cracked a small smirk as I burst through a heavy section of trees, hoping to finally lose the darn monster.

My heart immediately sank. The forest abruptly ended, almost cruelly. I had burst into a small extreme hills biome, it seemed. The land continued on until it became a steep downward drop. I stopped at the edge and looked down. It was a decent drop to the flat ground of what looked like a meadows biome below. And I nearly cried when I looked onward. A small village lit by torches laid just a little ways out in the meadow. I was exhausted and my feet were aching, but seeing that village gave me renewed strength. I was nearly safe! I just had to figure out an easy way down…

There was a loud rustle of leaves as something burst through the trees behind and caused me to freeze. I turned back in terror to see the same terrible spider from before, slowly inching its way over to me! I looked straight into its dark, hungry, eyes. It knew it had me. Even if I could get down, the spider was faster than me. I'd never make it in a straight race to the village before it would catch me. I was doomed!

Then, I heard it. A tiny hissing noise coming up from my side. I turned to see a horrendous sight. A wrinkled, green creeper with no arms, four stubby legs, and a merciless frown was hissing and running at me at full force, hissing angrily.

While fear and dread battle each other for a prime spot in my emotions, a crazy last ditch idea popped in my head. If it worked, then there was at least a chance I'd survive. If it didn't, I was definitely _not_ going to survive. But considering my circumstances, it looked like I was dead if I didn't do something!

The creeper started inflating as it got closer and before I could change my mind, I charged right back at it. It looked surprised as I closed the distance and I took advantage of that. Quickly, I wrapped my arms around the nearly inflated creeper, digging my fingers into its damp skin. I grunted in effort, using every ounce of strength I had to lift the green blob and spin it around. The spider froze for just a second, realizing my intention all too late. With a final, adrenaline-filled yell, I released my hold on the creeper. The spider let out one last screech that was cut short by the creeper's detonation.

The explosion was much bigger than anticipated. So was the shockwave! I watched in awe as the spider and the creeper were enveloped in a mixture of red and orange before I was thrown off my feet and down the cliff.

Instinctively, I put all my weight on my back to flip me over onto my feet to brace for impact. Just in time too. My feet hit the ground at a substantial speed. I bent my knees to help absorb the shock and rolled over my shoulder as best I could. The impact was hard on my legs stung quite a bit, but I didn't hear or feel any bones snap. That was a miracle in and of itself. I laid there for a couple minutes or so, clutching my knees and waiting for the throbbing to go down.

I was alive! Hah! I don't think I'd ever felt so happy to be alive since my unlucky car accident when I was five. I looked on toward the glow of the village that would offer me sanctuary from the gruesome mobs of the night. I got to my feet, painfully, and began to walk just a little farther. Once I reached the village, I could rest.

When I finally made it, the gravel street and the standard villager huts were the most welcoming of sights. The light from the makeshift street lights made from wool and torches helped keep the mobs from spawning around the village, making this the safest spot in the foreseeable area. I sighed in relief, glad to finally be safe.

_Woop!_ I thought too soon.

Out of nowhere, an enderman teleported directly in front of me. It was tall, jet black, and its rectangular purple eyes were looking down…right at mine! It let out a terrifying screech that put the spider's to shame. Then, it disappeared just as quickly as it had come. But I knew better.

I groaned and readied my aching body into a rigid riding horse stance. I was shaking from head to toe, scared and anxious for the enderman to reappear. I heard another loud _Woop_ from behind me. Instantly, I pulled my arm back into a devastating elbow strike. Or at least, it was supposed to be devastating.

My elbow throbbed in pain once it made contact with the enderman's stomach. It was like elbowing a wall! However, the enderman let out a pained shriek too, so at least I was able to hurt him as well. I gritted my teeth and turned to give him another strike with my fist. It flew by, swiping nothing but air, as the enderman teleported to the side.

Before I could reposition myself to block, I felt a long black fist strike the side of my face. I cried out loudly. I was literally lifted off of the ground and thrown down into the dirt! My cheek burned as I clutched it with my left hand.

The enderman teleported in front of me, reaching for me. I quickly sent a kick to what I thought was its kneecap. I cried out again and its leg buckled, allowing me to send another kick straight to its ugly black face. It was a pretty hard kick and the enderman stumbled back in pain, hands clutching where its nose would have been.

I rose to my feet quickly and sent another punch to its midsection, then spun around for an elbow jab to its side. I never let up, constantly attacking it with jabs, crosses, and kicks. My knuckles were bleeding and my feet ached with each kick, but I didn't care. This was about survival. A fight to the death!

I stopped for a second, readying myself to finish it off. I twisted my body, putting all of my weight on my left foot and turned, picking up speed as I brought up my right foot for a straight shot to its chin. It should have ended the fight right then and there. But, luck wasn't on my side this time.

The enderman teleported away just as I was about to connect and I barely had time to re-steady myself before it appeared in front of me again. I didn't have the time, however, to block its knee that collided right into my stomach. I gasped in pain and surprise as all the air left my lungs. I crumpled to the ground in agony. That hit felt like I was smacked with an aluminum baseball bat rather than a fist!

I tried to get up, but the enderman was already on me. It grabbed the sleeve of my shirt and with astonishing power, lifted me off the ground! It spun around and threw me against a neighboring villager house. I crashed into the wall with a heavy thud, sending thousands of newly damaged nerves splintering out from my spine all across my back. I didn't even have the strength to shout out.

I actually stayed there for a fraction of a second, before gravity decided to work again. I fell face-first onto the hard floor. I felt defeated. My body ached horridly, more than I'd ever experienced before. Every movement caused pain. Breathing stung as I tried once again to get up.

I wasn't given that kind of mercy. A second later, I felt cold, black, blocky, fingers wrap themselves tightly around my throat. The enderman lifted me up until our eyes met. I couldn't breathe! I gasped and flailed wildly, desperate to fill my lungs with air. I scratched and clawed at his arms to no avail. All the while he just stared at me. A cold, murderous, blood chilling stare.

He opened his mouth wide and screeched at me in anger.

And that's when I saw it. A single, dark orb. His enderpearl! Dark spots began to cloud my vision and if I didn't do something soon, I really was going to die. I dropped one hand from his arm and thrust it into its mouth. I grabbed at the pearl inside as it gagged and sunk its black teeth into my skin. I went to cry out, but had no air to do so.

With a last feet of strength, I pulled as hard as I could and dislodged the pearl.

I was dropped instantly, gasping and gagging from my throat being squeezed. I looked up at the enderman. He was grasping at his neck as black sludge, which I could only assume to be his blood, oozed from inside his mouth. He made loud gurgling noises as he tried to scream. I had to stop myself from being sick. He was…drowning

Eventually, he couldn't breathe anymore. I saw his form collapse to the ground, lifeless and unmoving. I didn't move either. I just laid there on the ground, body in pieces or so it felt, grasping the one thing that had saved my life. The small orb was a perfect sphere, almost uncommon in minecraft. It was tinted in a dark green and purple. It actually almost looked pretty.

After some time, I was somehow able to get back on my feet. I slipped the pearl into my pocket and half walked, half stumbled into the nearest villager's house. The fact that no villagers had come out to see what all the commotion was about told me that it had to have been abandoned. It didn't help that I couldn't hear any of the distinctive "hmmrfphs" a villager made.

I was too tired to wonder why the village had been abandoned and frankly, I didn't care. All I wanted to do was rest. For fuck's sake, all I wanted was a safe place to sleep! I collapsed onto the bed inside an unknown villager's home. I don't think I even lasted a whole minute after my head hit the pillow.

**Hey guys...bit of bad news. When I transferred the files over from my old computer...there was a bit of a problem. I lost a LOT of chapters and after thinking on it, I remembered I also saved some files on another device that's now been...long broken. Sorry guys, I forgot all about that and didn't realize it until now after trying to repost this. The only chapters I have consistently are 1-10. I know that sucks and I really do apologize for not being able to post the whole thing in it's entirety, but I'm not really sure what else I can do. Sorry...**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It was still dark when I woke up. A look at my watch told me it was the early hours of the morning, around six to be exact. I groan, but even that stung to do. My muscles ached, but my back felt the worst. Moving it in any way caused it ache. Still, I felt a hell of a lot better than I had last night. I wasn't quite ready to get up yet, but my brain had already woken up.

I still couldn't comprehend my situation, even though I was already in it. Somehow, I'd been transported into one of my favorite games, I was nearly killed by a spider, blown up by a creeper, and pounded by an enderman. What a great way to start my first day. It's kinda funny, because I don't remember having any trouble at all when I was on the other end of the screen.

My thoughts wandered to my family. My brother and I used to play this game a lot. We even made a minecraft server for us and other people to play on. It was a zombie apocalypse server with custom zombies, a pre-made city, and a lot of fun perks and lootable chests. I guess I could be glad I didn't have to deal with an environment like that. I would've been dead on the first night.

He lived with us too. Him and his fiancé. They had recently just had a baby actually. I was an uncle! I hadn't really understood what that meant at first, but I have learned a little bit over the past two months of observing and helping out with him when I could. I hope they're doing ok.

My mother. Man, she was probably worried sick by now. I'd been gone a whole day and she had no clue where I was. Truth be told, we had a bit of an argument that night before. It was over something stupid and the real problems underneath were never addressed or solved, which in reality, was both of our faults. I hope she hadn't thought I ran away. That would break her heart. I'd hate for her to feel that way, especially since our last conversation had been one of begrudged anger.

I prayed that my brother and them were comforting her in whatever way they could. I prayed for their safety and ease of mind. And for myself too. If I was going to need anyone's help now, it was definitely the Lord's. Every day was probably going to be a challenge just to survive. And as for finding a way back to my family, I didn't even know where to start.

The door creaked and I instantly snapped my head in its direction. The wooden door at the front of the house was open and swinging slowly back and forth. I stared at it suspiciously. I knew for sure that I closed it last night. It's still early morning though. Mobs could still be outside. I'm going to have to close it. Damn.

I grunted as I lifted my body up off the bed. It was actually easier than I thought it was going to be, but everything still hurt. I took the least amount of steps I needed to get to the door. Something felt a little off while I approached the door. Maybe it was the cool early morning air, but I swear I felt chills. Once I was within reach of the door handle, I reached out to catch the knob and closed it shut tightly.

I let out a small sigh. No mobs, I was still ok.

"Glad you got up to close that door. It was starting to let in a draft." A low voice spoke from behind me.

I shot around faster than I thought I was able. My eyes widened. "No way…" Was all I could get out.

Staring straight back at me was one of the most feared and horrid nightmares of all minecraft players. Even in the game, as a blocky figure, he could make your life a living hell if you downloaded a certain mod for him. I could have probably dealt with him, had he been his blocky avatar, but he looked even more intimidating in human form. He wore a simple, torn and fade teal shirt and dark purple pants. His hair was cut short, with only a bit dangling over his face. But what really made me shiver, were his eyes. They were completely white with no pupils whatsoever and they were staring straight back at mine.

He smirked. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. I had to beat back against the overwhelming feeling of fear that was eating away at my stomach. Dang it! Even though I'd healed remarkably, I was still in no condition to fight. At least, not him. I needed to stall him and think of some sort of plan.

"Who…who are you?" I asked, doing my best to sound frightened and clueless. Although, the first emotion wasn't exactly difficult to do. He chuckled, which made me shiver even more. His voice was low and had a slightly…demonic edge to it. Hearing his chuckle would probably work its way into my nightmares. If I was ever given the chance to have those again.

"You know who I am. I can see it in your eyes. Your recognition. Your fear." He chuckled again. "But don't worry. I am not here to hurt you. In fact, I'm here to help you." He smiled, but it wasn't a good kind of smile. It looked like the kind of smile the spider would give a fly before ensnaring it in its web.

"What do you mean?" I asked. I was curious, but also wary. How could _he_ help me? And at what cost?

He kept that same smile plastered on his face. "It's simple really. All I want you to do is play a game. If you win, you can go back home and see your beloved family. If you lose, well, you'll be stuck here forever." He started pacing around the small house. "But since you're already stuck here, what could be the harm in playing?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "What kind of game? And how would you know how to get me home? Herobrine."

"Because," He said, stopping to look back at me. "I'm the one who brought you here."

That hit me a lot harder than that damn enderman ever could have. I was ripped away from my family, my friends, and my life back on earth. For what? So I could play some stupid game for some ghostly video game psycho? I clenched my fist and tried to contain my anger.

"You…brought me here." I said looking down, my voice lower than a whisper. "You…took me away from my loved ones…" I looked up at him. His expression had hardened and his eyes were locked on mine. "You…MONSTER!" I charged at him, already ready to throw a punch.

I never even made it close. Herobrine simply raised his hand towards me. My body immediately jerked to a stop. "Honestly," He sighed, "Did you have to make it so predictable?" He waved his hand dismissively and I was flung against the front wall of the house. I grunted hard as my back seared up in pain again. It wasn't fully healed, which only made it worse. Before I had any time to even try to react, he snapped my head towards him. He began slowly walking towards me, hand still raised, keeping me in place.

"You should already know how powerful I am and you know that wasn't a smart move. You should also know how easily I could kill you right now, so I would suggest taking a less aggressive attitude." He said, his voice becoming even more dark and hard. "Agreed?" He must have given me back some control over my body, because I was able to nod my head. He lowered his hand and I collapsed back onto the oak wood floor.

There was no way I could fight him, especially in the condition I was now. I slowly rose to my feet and faced Herobrine once again. He stood in front of me, with his arms crossed, that cocky and devious smile now returning to his face. As much as I didn't like it, I had to listen to what he had to offer. There didn't seem to be any other choice.

"What game is it?" I asked.

He raised his hand again and for a second, I thought he was going to throw me back against the wall again. I braced myself, but hurting me wasn't his intention. A white burst from his palm and flared up quickly before being snuffed out at about the same time. In his hand was what looked like a flier. He tossed it to me and I caught it mid-flight.

_25__th__ Annual Monster Games!_

_All participants welcome! Must have a ticket to gain entry. Go to coordinates, x=2000, Z=2000 and present your ticket to the guard. We hope to see you there!_

On the back of the poster was an image of all the classic mobs looking like they were ready for battle. A skeleton had its bow drawn, a spider was shooting webbing at a zombie, and a creeper was on the verge of exploding. The poster was embroidered in gold and had black and green shading a couple inches in before the picture of the mobs. There was a ticket attached to the front of the page. I eyed it skeptically.

"How is this going to get me home?"

"Hmmf. Turn it over." He said. I flipped the page around.

_1__st__ Prize:_

_Herobrine's Enderpearl. It has the ability to go back and forth between Earth's realm and Minecraft's. Good luck all contestants!_

There was a picture of a darkly shaped ball, what I could only assume to be the enderpearl I needed coupled with a map to lead me to the marked location. I looked up at Herobrine and then the paper. This seemed really shady and the pieces just weren't lining up for. Why would Herobrine bring me here just to compete in these games?

"Why pick me to compete in these games?" I asked. "There are plenty of other athletes and champions in my world to choose from. Not that I'd wish this fate on anyone, but why the hell was I chosen?" I asked, partially wanting to know the answer and partially pissed off.

He laughed. "Let's just call it an unfortunate event that you were selected." He said coldly. "I expect to see you at the meeting place before today's end. Good luck Zyeke." He said, laughing maniacally before disappearing in front of my very eyes.

I simply stood there for a few seconds after he left, not moving at all. I wanted to punch, kick, and scream at anything and anyone. Not that it would have done any good. I also wanted to just rip the flier and the ticket up and stomp it into the dust like a little kid. But, I couldn't do that either. Unfortunately, whatever these games were, they were my only hope for getting back home. I had no other option I could think of.

I shook my head. It was time to stop being a stick in the mud and start being proactive. I looked around the former villager's house for the first time since I arrived last night. It was a small and very simple layout. There was the bed in the corner, a small kitchen area comprised of twoo furnaces, a cauldron presumably used as a sink, and a crafting table. There was a red and black rug in the middle of the floor and another corner of the house was dedicated to storage, as there were two double-chests placed side by side against the wall.

I moved towards the chest and opened the first one on the right. As I expected, the supplies were very limited. There were plenty of sticks and wooden planks, but only a few blocks of cobblestone. There was also some strong and a few pieces of leather. The next chest proved to be a little more valuable. Inside it was two iron ingots, some coal for the furnaces, and FOOD! I instantly grabbed one of the loaves from inside and chowed down. I was very grateful that food didn't go stale or go bad in minecraft, because the bread tasted fresh like it had just come out of the oven. Well, except for being cold. There were some apples and a couple more loaves of bread along with some wool.

There was one last item that caught my attention. In the bottom of that chest, laid a dusty book. When I took it out, I could tell it was old and had been well used. The front cover was worn and the pages had yellowed with age. Some were even torn. The title was a little smudged, but I was able to make it out. _Encyclopedia de Minecraftia._ I sighed and nearly threw it back in the chest, but I decided I had better at least skin through it to see if I needed a refresher on anything.

_Table of Contents_

_Pages 1-20: Minecraft basics._

_Pages 21-80: Crafting recipes_

_Pages 81-100: Mob information_

_Pages 100-162: Mob Princesses_

Wait, what? Mob princesses? I flipped to page 100.

_Mob princesses are the princesses of all the mobs in minecraft. Each mob has a specific princess. There is only one prince and that is Rot of the zombies. There is Cupa, princess of the creepers, Skele, Princess of the skeletons. Gelly, princess of the slimes, Sindy, princess of the spiders, Cindy, princess of the cave spiders, Rosa, princess of the Iron golems, Susie, princess of the Snow golems, Lone, princess of the wolves, Katie, princess of the Ocelots, Andr, princess of the endermen, Blazette, princess of the blazes, Charlette, princess of the ghasts, Hadien, princess of the wither skeletons, Jade, princess of the magma cubes, Mira, princess of the zombie pigmen, Melinda, princess of the witches, and Inksabella, princess of the squids. There is one other who is considered royalty, though she has no mobs to rule over. This is Herione, the feared daughter of Herobrine._

This was quite a bit digest. I had never expected there to be princes and princesses of mobs in minecraft. Something told me that mobs weren't the only thing I was going to have to worry about when competing in the games. I read on, thinking I should get to know all I could before leaving to find the coordinates that Herobrine was soo kind enough to provide.

_Cupa: Princess of the Creepers_

_Cupa is usually a happy-go-lucky type of person. She enjoys playing around a lot, even while she fights. She is able to explode parts of her body without causing her physical harm. She can instantly make any type of tnt, miniature or large. The mini-tnt aren't as powerful as a full size block, but she can produce them almost instantly, packing quite the explosive punch. She can take minutes and create a tnt block as big as a 8X8 space. She also has the ability to summom creepers at will, though they have to be in a 6 chunk radius. _

_Lighting Cupa: Princess of the Charged Creepers_

_Some would say this is the alternate personality of Cupa once she has been struck by lightning. Cupa becomes much more aggressive and her abilities increase ten-fold. She produces tnt faster, summons lighting charged creepers, and can explode her whole body without dying, making anything within a 3 chunk radius vaporize._

"Damn!" I said aloud. I hadn't even gotten past the first princess and I was already ready to stop. I thought facing the mobs was going to be intimidating enough, but this? This was straight up terrifying!

I sighed and forced my eyes back to the paper. I might as well read up on my executioners before going to face them. I chuckled at my idiotic dark humor.

_Skelle: Princess of the Skeletons_

_Skelle is a quiet person for the most part. Skelle, along with all of the undead, have a certain "craving" for human flesh. Unlike zombies though, she and her kind have figured out how to use a bow, making them deadly foes. Skelle likes ranged combat and uses her trusty bone bow when fighting. She is able to fire regular arrows, as well as fire, poison, and explosive. She is able to call forth skeletons from a 6 chunk radius. She Is also able to shoot almost 5 arrows every three seconds if she is concentrating hard enough, all with great precision. It has been rumored that she was able to split 5 arrows in half from hitting the bullseye on a target in exactly the same area. _

_Rot: Prince of the Zombies_

_Rot is nothing short of a bully. He is undead, except, unlike Skele, he cannot feel pain. This makes fighting him more about strategy and patience. You'll want to keep your distance when fighting him, he may not fell pain, but he can inflict it well. He is very powerful, physically. He once broke though a netherbrick wall with only his arms. He is able to summon zombies up from the ground if they are in a 6 chunk radius. His bite is poisonous to mobs and deadly to humans. _

_Gelly: Princess of Slimes_

_Gelly is a very flirtatious and kind. She has incredible regenerative abilities, being that she is made of slime. She is able to squeeze through any material so long as it has some sort of flaw. She is able to summon other slime within a 6 chunk radiusand can jump up to 50 blocks high. _

_Jade: Princess of the Magma Cubes:_

_Like her counter-part, Jade is also flirtatious and kind. She has good regenerative abilities as well, but unlike Gelly, she has pale skin instead on slime. She is immune to fire damage and can jump just as high as Gelly. She can summon any magma cubes from the nether from her would be cords in the nether up to a 6 chunk radius._

_Sindy: Princess of the Spiders_

_This princess is very mischevious and always tries to scare people and stir up trouble. She can shoot webbing from her fingertips that can stick to any surface. She can walk up and down walls, ceilings, ect, just as normally as the floor. She can summon any spider within a 6 chunk radius and she excels in acrobatics. _

_Cindy: Princess of Cave spiders_

_Cindy is Sindy's little sister. She is 2 years younger than Sindy. She has similar abilities to Sindy, but with a few differences. She can shoot either sticky webbing or acidic webbing that can eat through any metal or wood. She can walk up and down surfaces like her sister and has two types of poisonous bites. She can either paralyze her victim or poison him/her with her venom. _

_Rosa: Princess of the Iron Golems_

_Rosa is a shy, but gentle, caring, princess despite her size and power. Her skin is hard like Iron, and her entire body is a pale-gray color. She can break any block with one to three hits. Even Obsidian is no match for her. She can summon Iron golems for protection from a 6 chunk radius, or from any nearby Iron deposit. She has a deep love for humans and will protect them at all costs._

_Susie: Princess of the Snow Golems_

_Susie is much like Rosa, except that she is not as strong. She relies mostly on her ability to change the weather to her advantage. The temperature drops when she enters a room and she can make it colder by just giving it a thought. She can make icicles rise out of the ground if there is water around and can shoot small shards out of her hands. She can summon Snow golems from water or any in a 6 chunk radius. _

_Ender: Princess of the Endermen:_

_Ender is a very aggressive princess. She is very powerful and doesn't mind showing it. She can teleport to anywhere she can see or has been. She can concentrate her ender energy into small, short blasts, or one big, long, blast. She can summon endermen from a 6 chunk radius from the overworld or from her would be coordinates in the end. _

_Lone: Princess of the Wolves_

_Lone is a kind and caring princess who loves nature. She draws her power from her surroundings and has better senses than the other princesses. She can summon wolves and just about any other animal by using her nature energy. She can also concentrate her nature energy in beams as Ender can. _

_Katie: Princess of Ocelots_

_Katie is a playful and eccentric princess. She is very flexable and has enhanced senses like Lone. She is able to summon other Ocelots within a 6 chunks radius and can also use nature magic like Lone, it's just not as powerful. _

_Inksabella: Princess of the Squids_

_Inksabella is a shy, but nice princess once you get to know her. She is a very interesting person to fight. She can sprout tentacles from her back and uses water attacks to wash away her opponent. Don't ever be in water when fighting this princess. She can also summon quid from a 6 chunk radius. She also needs to be doused in water consistently since she is part fish. _

_Melinda: Princess of the Witches_

_Melinda is a kind, but mischievous princess when she wants to be. She uses her magic and potions to aid her in a fight. She can use her magic to make copies of herself, make blocks move, and she can use it to make a limited amount of potions instantly. She can also summon other witched within a 6 chunk radius or from a nearby village. _

_Blazette: Princess of the Blazes_

_Blazette is a very aggressive princess with a "hot head". She can fly and mainly uses fire for her attacks. She can shoot a volley of small fireballs or take a few seconds to make a large one. Her blaze rods contribute to her power. When she sets on aflame, her power is doubled. When she has all 6 lit, she is at her full potential. As with all the other princesses, she can summon blazes from a 6 chunk radius in the overworld or her would be coordinates in the nether. _

_Charlette: Princess of the Ghasts_

_Charlette is a shy, but caring princess. She can fly as Blazette can and can shoot fire charges. These charges can vary in size depending on how fast she wants to produce them. She can also sprout tentacles from her back to use when fighting and summon any ghasts within a 6 chunk radius in the overworld or her would be coordinates in the nether. _

_Mira: Princess of the Zombie Pigmen_

_Mira is kind, friendly and doesn't like to fight unless provoked. She is undead like Rot and cannot feel pain. She can summon any sword on a whim and is immune to fire damage. She can summon zombie pigmen from the overworld or her would be coordinates in the nether. _

_Hilda: Princess of the Wither Skeletons_

_Hilda is a very aggressive and cruel princess. She fights mainly based on taking other peoples abilities and turning them into a stronger and darker counterpart. She can leech on a person energy if she lays a hand on them and she can summon Wither Skeletons with a 6 chunk radius of from her would be coordinates in the nether. _

_Heroine: Daughter of Herobrine:_

_Not much is known about Heroine or her abilities. Only the other princesses know them to an extent. If she finds you, the best thing to do is run and pray._

I closed the book slowly. _I'm as good as dead, aren't I?_ I laughed at myself, but not necessarily because it was funny. It was more to fight back against the fear. These princesses and prince sounded tough. No, tough wasn't the right word. Undefeatable sounded better.

It didn't matter though. I had to go. As far as I was concerned, nothing was going to stop me from seeing my family again. I placed the book back in the chest. It was time to make preparations and I had a few ideas in mind on how to even the odds. Or at least, to make me feel like I had a chance.

I grabbed the string and leather out and headed to the crafting table. Using a knife that was strapped onto the side, I cut the leather into strips until it was long enough for my purpose. I then cute small holes onto the ends and laced the string in between the pieces several times until I felt it was strong enough to hold. I tied it off well and moved on to the next piece.

After a long process of string, knotting, tying, and repeat, I finally accomplished what I set out to make. I now had a crude makeshift sling for my weapon that I planned to make. I went back to the chest with the sticks and picked out the two thickest, sturdiest, and longest sticks. When I had the pieces, I wanted, I tied them tightly together with the remainder of the string I had.

Now I had a weapon I knew how to use. In tae kwon do, they taught their students how to use a variety of cool weapons, but none flowed better for me than the bo staff. I loved twirling it around and practicing defensive and offensive maneuvers with my instructors whenever I could. I even fought them. I didn't win at first, but that only drove me to train harder with a practice foam one at home. Eventually, I was able to fight them to a standstill and even sometimes win every now and again. They were very pleased with my determination and even awarded me with my very own martial artists bo staff that they only allowed to black belts and teachers!

I chuckled at the fond memory. Of course, that staff had been made of lightweight metal. This one was made from sturdy oak wood that looked to be about an inch or more thick. I did a couple of practice techniques to get the feel of this new weapon. It was a bit heavier than the one I was used to, but it would have to suffice.

I put it into a loop I'd designed in my sling and adjusted it until it fit snug. I didn't want it too tight, so I could pull it out quickly, but I also didn't want it to lose so it wouldn't flop around or fall out while I walked. It was actually a lot harder than I thought, but I was finally able to get it right after the fifth time or so.

I slung the sling around my back and grabbed the flier. There was no way I was losing my only ticket into the games, literally. I grabbed the food and moved to the front door. My hand lingered on the knob for a second, as I paused to wait for any second thoughts to come. And oh boy, did they come!

"Yep, know I know I'm absolutely out of my mind." I muttered to myself as I opened the door and stepped outside.

The sun was just peeking out from behind the hill I'd escaped from the day before. The sky was alight with multi-colored hues and the wind was blowing at a gentle breeze across the tall patches of grass and flowers that minecraft generated. And the temperature was nice and warm. It was very beautiful. Very peaceful.

I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. For a second, I could almost forget all of my troubles. Almost. I opened my eyes and focused on the map on the back of the flier. The point I needed to head to was due north of here and by the looks of it, I had a very long walk to go through.

I munched on an apple and took a step forward, starting my journey to the games.

**Hey guys. I hope you are enjoying the re-vamp as much as I am enjoying writing it. Please show your support by leaving me a review and letting me know how I'm doing. And don't forget about the possible new love interest and reason why ^_^. I'm fine with doing Cupa again, but if you have any other suggestions with good points or just want to voice your opinion, please by all means let me know. Also, don't forget to follow and favorite and if you have any questions or concerns, then please PM me privately. And one more thing, I am happily accepting an Oc's you guys want to give me ****. Until next time.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Man, it was hot! That was all I could think about as I walked. I'd been heading north for about two hours now and I'd eaten another apple since then. But the huge mistake I made when I left was not bringing any water with me! After a couple hours of walking in the heat of the mid-morning sun definitely made a guy thirsty. I thought that eating an apple would help a little bit, but the natural juices only satisfied me for a short time. After that, I was only more thirsty than before.

During my travels, not much had changed. I was still walking around in a meadow biome, having to climb up and down its numerous small hills, which really wasn't that much of a problem. What sucked was that I was beginning to sweat, which only made me think more about finding water!

I stopped for a minute and checked the map on the back of the flier. On the bright side, at least I'd been making good progress. The marker on my map told me that my position wasn't too much further from the coordinates I was supposed to be at. There was a gray blot on the map to mark the place I was supposed to get to. I just hope wherever that was, they had water!

I folded the flier and put it back in my pocket before continuing. If anything, at least this walk had given me some time alone to think. Unfortunately, most of my thoughts weren't happy ones. I had thought about my family when I first started walking. But that quickly turned sour because I was still worried about all the distress I was probably causing. Even though, it may not have been my fault, it still felt awful that I couldn't at least contact them and let them know I was ok.

I pushed those thoughts out of my head soon after they came. Then, I tried thinking of some strategies I could use against any future opponents I'd have to face in the games. From what I could tell from the flier, I guessed that these games were going to probably be fighting matches against the princesses and prince. That wasn't exactly uplifting. Considering each of them had awesome mob abilities and I had…a stick. Every scenario I drew up in my head to strategize against them based on the description from the book always ended badly. So, I stopped thinking about that too.

The last thing I tried to do to take my mind off of the many negatives it was soo fond of making for me, was to focus on the beauty of minecraft nature. That worked for a little while. It was awesome to see the expansive green pasture land dotted with tall grass and beautiful roses and daffodils. I even got to see a few animals roaming around. They would turn and look at me uncertainly before going back about their business. But every time a cow, pig, or sheep turned to look at me, I burst out laughing from their puzzled expressions. I must have been a little strange to them, not being cube-shaped and all. But, the longer I went on admiring the landscape, the more I realized I had not run into any streams, lakes, or even the small pond minecraft generated in this type of biome. Which again, drew me back to my thirst.

"Come one dude, you gotta stop being such a Negative Nancy." I said, making myself crack smile. That was something I heard from my family every once and even a few teachers at my school. It was so stupid and corny to me, that I found it hilarious. It never did take very much to get me to laugh or smile though. Which, in a way, was kind of a blessing and I thanked God for it every day. I always felt joyful and light at heart most of the time, though I could remember a time where that wasn't the case.

About seven years ago, I remember we lived in South Carolina, my mom and I. She had just recently gotten married to my stepfather and we had to move from Tennessee to live with him. Everything was great at first, during the summer when I didn't have to quite start middle school yet. My stepfather acted great to both my mom and me and for a while, things were as happy as they could have been.

As soon as school started, things started to take a turn for the worst. The students at my school were not very nice, to say the least, and as a middle school student, I cried very easily, which only fueled their fire. At home, my mom and stepfather got into arguments a lot. So, I turned towards video games to escape the reality of my situation. It almost became an obsession as time went on and I always hated to be interrupted, which caused only more needless anger and grief.

This lasted for three years before we left. We really did just up and leave, taking with us the bare necessities. We moved back down to Florida, where I spent most of my time growing up before moving to Tennessee. We stayed at my moms friend's house for a little while before we could afford to buy a house. During that time, we both slowly became happier. And it was also during that time where I re-discovered God.

Now, four years later, I am as joyful as I can be. I became thankful for every day of my life, even the bad ones once I was able to look back on them. That's not to say I didn't have any or very little trifles, believe me, there were many. And sometimes it was hard to keep my anger in check and speak what mattered over what would only turn to malice. For one of the most important things that make us good or evil is what comes from our mouths, whether heard or unheard. The other, is what we do after what we say.

I stopped. It seemed like I had reached my destination. Below me, as I stood atop a small hill, was the entrance to an underground cave. Stone blocks were randomly generated all around it, more than enough to account for the gray mark on the back of the flier.

As I approached the dark entrance, I spotted a sign next to a single chest. The words on the sign read: "Take one". I opened the chest to find sticks with large coal pieces tied to them with white cloth. A single piece of flint and steel hung from the wall on the inside. I guess it was obvious what they wanted me to do.

With a couple of strikes, I was able to get a torch lit for myself. I closed the chest and with a deep breath, headed inside the cave. The torch casted a small orange glow in a small radius around me as I walked, but there really wasn't that much to see. The path before me never bent nor did it split off. The walls were just plain stone blocks with no ores scattered amongst the cave at all. Not even coal! Nope, it was just a plain stone cave that was steadily taking me lower and lower underground.

It wasn't much longer when I noticed a faint glow of light where I was headed. Must be the place I was looking for. I jumped the last little bit down onto a flat portion of the cave. In front of me was a single wooden door. And next to the door was a single cube-villager sitting on what looked like a stool made from fence posts and a wooden oak slab. He lookedold, with a long gray beard, but he was dressed in iron armor with a diamond sword by the stool. He was also sleeping.

I chuckled a bit. He had a gentle long snore he would do after every breath. I almost didn't want to wake him up, but my guess was that I had to give my ticket to this guy. So, I put a hand on his square shoulders and gave him a gentle shake. He snorted loudly and jerked awake with a start.

"Huh! What?" He said groggily. He looked at me with uncertain eyes. He shook his head a couple times before getting up off his stool. The old villager then proceeded to bend backwards, placing two hands on his back. There was a multitude of pops that came from his back and he sighed gratefully.

"Ah! That's better." He said before turning to me. "Who are you? Don't think I've ever seen you around here before." He croaked, his voice hoarse, but loud.

"Um. Hi." I said. "I don't know for sure if this is the right place or not, but are the monster games held here?"

The old villager chuckled. "No sonny, but this is the meeting place. So, you're not totally lost." He laughed. "May I see your ticket please?"

"Yeah." I grabbed the flier out of my pocket and took the ticket off it. I gave it to the old man. He thanked me and held it up to the torch light and seemed to be checking it over. He was probably checking to see if it was a fake, but then again, I don't know anyone in their right mind who would want to voluntarily go to these games.

"Well, looks like you're clear." He said with a hoot. "I know I haven't seen you before in any of the previous games, so good luck sonny." He gave me back the ticket and opened the door for me. "Be careful though. I know a lot of the regular contestants here, they're tougher than obsidian, they are." He said with another laugh as he shut the door behind me.

Once inside, it looked like I had walked into a restaurant-type area. There were tables made from oak wood slabs and fence posts. So were the their, though they were cushioned with red wool cushions. The floor was made from red carpet, but the walls were still made from stone, though it was decorated with a few paintings. Glowstone hung from the ceiling to light up the place and straight across from me was what looked like a bar. A long wooden counter with oak stools fixed with cushions looked very inviting.

Except, it didn't look like I was the first person to come here. He wore jet black pants, shirt, and jacket with black hiking boots. From the look it, he was white, but not pale. His ankle and cuffs were decorated with a flaming design that glowed slightly, which I thought was kinda cool. He also woreblack gloves. I was about to approached when I noticed a small glint of steel hidden underneath his jacket. I was about to move to a different angle to see if I could get a better look, when he spoke.

"Yo." He said. "You know you can come sit down right?" He didn't turn his head.

I was slightly surprised that he knew I was there, but then again that old man was pretty noisy letting me in. Not that it really mattered, but I did kinda wish I knew what he had hidden under his jacket. I walked up and took a seat next to him, a little wary, but calm. He had his hand around a glass bottle filled with water. Instantly, I was reminded once again, that I was thirsty!

Now that I was able to get a better look, I realized the boy next to me probably wasn't much older than me, if at all. His eyes were an interesting dark brown. It was so dark that it almost blended in with his pupils if you just happened to glance at them. His hair was also jet black. Apparently this guy liked the color black.

I was just about to say something, when the door behind the bar opened and another villager dressed in a brown robe came out. Only, this wasn't a normal cube villager. A pretty girl with long orange hair and emerald eyes stepped out with a couple glass bottles in her arms. When she saw me next to the guy already at the bar, she set the bottles down and placed her hands behind her back.

"Good morning. My name is Alice. Can I get you something to drink?" She asked with a small bow.

I was a little surprised at her professional and formal introduction. "Uh…hi. Nice to meet you too. My name is Zyeke." I said and repeated her bow. "And a glass of water would be great please."

Alice nodded and disappeared into the back room. She came out a second later with a bottle of water for me, for which I thanked her. I took a long sip, grateful to finally have my thirst quenched. I never thought water could taste so good! I finished that glass in less than a minute and let out a long sigh. The boy sitting next to me looked slightly amused.

"Get enough to drink?" He asked.

"Yeah." I answered. "Now that I think about it, I don't think I've had anything to drink since yesterday."

"Dang man. Why?" He asked.

So, I told him all about what happened to me the night before. I told him about waking up in a forest, fighting against the different mobs and that blain enderman. He seemed to tense up a little when I talked about that, but he settled down quickly once he noticed it. I wondered briefly why he would get worked up about an enderman attack, but I let it slide. After the battle with the enderman, I told him about Herobrine's visit and how he told me about these games.

"Damn. Sounds like you had a pretty crappy start here." He said once I finished the story, taking a sip from his glass.

"Yeah, I suppose so." I agreed. "But hey, it could be worse, ya know?"

"Fighting for your life during these games at a slim hope of getting back to your family is not defined as 'worse'?" He asked with a smile.

I laughed. "You always such a pessimist?"

"Nah. More of a realist. Name's MT by the way." He said, offering his hand to me.

I took his gloved hand firmly and gave it a shake. "Zyeke. Nice to meet you."

The door opened behind us and we turned to look at who the new contestant was. Or rather, contestants. Standing at the door were two kids, around our age. One was a boy and the other was a girl. The one on the left was a girl with light brown, almost chestnut hair with dyed in pink bangs worn wavy down to her midback. She had light green eyes and lightly tanned skin. She wore a hot pink t-shirt that showed a black cat on some sort of dirt path. She was also wearing a light gray skirt that went past her knees and gray sneakers. She had a Japanese-looking sword strapped to her side.

The one next to her was a boy who looked to be the same age and height as the girl beside him. He had dark brown hair worn long and shaggy. He had the same green eyes as the girl, but unlike her, he didn't look like he was a very athletic person and his skin was more pale than hers. He wore a dark green T-shirt saying "Watch your Dubstep" With a dark gray hoodie unzipped over top as well as loose dark gray jeans. He had black sneakers. I couldn't spot any weapons on him.

"Sup guys!" The girl said. She

"Hi there." The boy mumbled. Man, that was quiet! If I hadn't been paying attention, I probably wouldn't have even heard him. I hope he wasn't usually that shy or I'd probably have a tough time hearing him.

Before we could even say hi back, two more people walked through the door. Two boys this time. One was an African American who had buzzed hair. He looked to be about 6 foot, a little shorter than me. He was dressed in a white t-shirt and black jeans with black sneakers. His tight clothes did well to compliment his defined body. A bow and quiver of arrows was strapped to his back. He looked at me with hazel colored eyes. Cautious, but calm.

The other boy was white. He wore Stonewashed jeans which looked a bit more faded than they were supposed to. A white t-shirt was showing through a Mass Effect N7 jacket and he wore red and black sneakers, Nike ones in fact. He looked to be in good shape and I could spot a scythe strapped on his back. It was made of diamond with a dark oak handle. I spotted something else that surprised me even more than the scythe though. Strapped to his waste, I could see two very real looking pistols. It frightened me for a second that he was carrying such a destructive weapon, but when I looked at it a bit longer, I spotted a brand name for a bb gun company. It came from the same one as my rifle did back home. That calmed me down a bit.

"Hey! What's up everyone!" The guy with the N7 jacket exclaimed.

"Hello." The guy in the white t-shirt said.

"Maybe we should get a table." MT whispered to me.

We ended up taking two small table sand putting them together to accommodate everyone. We talked a bit about ourselves and it seemed like the group we had here were pretty cool people. The guy in the N7 jacket's name was Bryce Burke. He had been home on a holiday when he said that a portal to minecraft appeared in his room. Excited to start an adventure, he gathered up his belongings, left his mom a note, and hopped in. He was participating in these games pretty much for fun and to get home.

The boy and girl that had come in before turned out to be related. The girl's name was Katrina and the boy's name was Ethan. Katrina did most of the talking, saying she was an outgoing and adventurous person at her school, while her brother was the more nerdy and shy type, which earned a look from Ethan. It turns out that they were both brought here by Herobrine as well to participate in these games. They pretty much were here for the same reason I was. They wanted to see their families again.

What was interesting, was that the African Amercan boy, Sully, and MT were like brothers. It turns out Sully was transported here too, though he couldn't remember exactly how. He had no knowledge of the world of minecraft and nearly died on the first couple nights of staying here. MT found him after the third day and helped him get settled in this new land. They soon became good friends and loved together in a snow biome, with MT's five dogs. But, one day, Sully went out mining and never returned. It turned out that he had gotten lost and wandered around the mines for days looking for a way out. When his food and water had run out, he nearly gave up hope. But, Herobrine appeared to him too, saying he would offer to get Sully out of the mine if he would participate in these games. When Sully agreed, he was teleported far away from the mines and from MT. He'd been searching for him ever since, but when the time came to uphold his part of the deal with Herobrine, he headed here. It seemed to be pure coincidence that the two met up again.

I told everyone about my story and it didn't take very long for us to get along. Pretty soon we were laughing, cracking jokes, and talking about whatever came to mind. As we did so, more participants came that I could only assume were the princesses and prince of the mobs that I'd read about. They certainly seemed to match their mobs, whether on a small scale or a large one. We pretty much kept to ourselves, observing the competition from our corner.

From the looks of it, this was going to be one heck of a competition.

**Hey guys, hope you enjoyed the chapter! And may I just say, "Woohoo! The gang's back together again! Kinda." All the OC's listed go to their respective owners. Katrina and Ethan to LuckLynx741****, Sully to ****BoatingTurtle, MT to Mr. Floodwaters (Now NecroFloodwaters), and our new addition Bryce goes to Captain Burke. Thank you all again for the awesome OC's and I hope I can further develop them than I did in the last story. I can't wait to really get into the nitty gritty bits of the story and the actual games. Please guys, make sure to leave a review with any comments or suggestions for me to read! It really helps me as a writer! Also, don't forget to Favotire/Follow and if you have any urgent or in-depth questions, don't hesitate to PM me. Until next time everyone!**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Attention! Attention contestants! The monster games officially start now!"

A large boom from the far side of the meeting area drew everyone's attention. A large hole was blown into the side stone wall, revealing a pre-made mineshaft equipped with red powered rails. Soon, a line of minecarts came in, two of which were carrying a tall wooden board. We all got up from our table to go look, as did every other member present.

_Team 1: Cupa, Melinda, Heroine, Zyeke, Ramirez_

_Team 2: Sindy, Skele, Gelly, Katrina, Blazette_

_Team 3: Lone, Andr, Inksabella, Rot, Hadien_

_Team 4: Susie, Katie, Charlette, Jade, Mindy_

_Team 5: Gabbie, Cindy, Mira, Rosa, Ethan_

"Team 1! It is time that you departed. Enter your minecarts and go!"

I noticed some of the princesses moving towards the first row of minecarts that rolled to a stop inside the restaurant. I was about to follow suit when I noticed another boy approach. He looked more like a human than mob royalty though. I could tell that by the way he dressed. He wore a jet black hoodie over his torso which held the words "The Creatures", whatever that meant. His footwear was simple, white sneakers which contrasted well against his dark colored jeans. He also wore white rimmed glasses. I could have almost mistaken him for MT's older cousin or something. They even had the same color hair.

I shook it off and took the rear cart in the small chain train. When I was seated, the carts moved on their own and we began coasting down a 2x2 tunnel. It was well lit. Torches were placed at distinct intervals to keep the tunnel illuminated and to keep mobs from spawning I imagined.

I had no idea how long the ride was going to be, so I decided to get a little more comfortable. I shrunk down into the minecart, laying on my back. I stretched my long legs over the ends of the minecart and placed my hands behind my head. The bland stone ceiling moved along at a steady pace as we rode onwards. After a few minutes, I closed my eyes, deciding rather to listen to the rhythmic sounds of the minecarts than stare at the gray rock above me.

I chuckled. The steady ride from the minecarts reminded me of the long road trips I'd take with my mom when we used to visit my great grandparents down in Tenessee. They loved on a good piece of property that used to be a ranch. I always enjoyed going to visit them because they were always so nice and loving. My great grandmother would make the best breakfast of bacon, eggs, and pancakes you ever had, while my grandfather would always be up to crafting something down in his workshop in the garage. He always used to sneak me ice cream when I was much younger and we always got along.

I smiled at the fond memories, but sighed. I still kinda wish they were still with us, but I knew they were probably somewhere much better. I know I'd see them again eventually.

I felt a sudden weight added to the minecart and something touching my left leg. My eyes bolted open and I came face to face with white pupils. I fought against the urge to jump ship, or minecart, as I examined the person in front of me. At the very first glimpse, I thought Herobrine had appeared again, but I knew that wasn't true. Not unless Herobrine had the ability to change genders. I shivered at the disturbing thought. The girl in front of me, presumably Heroine, was dressed in a dark blue plain shirt and violet pants. She wore no shoes and had short cropped brown hair. She hadn't moved nor reacted since I opened my eyes.

We sat staring at each other for a few more seconds before I finally gathered my wits enough to speak. "Geez. You gotta sneak up on a guy like that?" I asked, trying to make light of the situation, despite it's awkwardness. I was surprised when she actually cracked a smile. But, something was off about it. It wasn't a smile of laughter or joy. It was more like one of…dark amusement. Not exactly what I was going for.

"You know, not many would make so light of my presence." She said. "Especially a human."

"Heh. Well, I guess I'm not most people." I said plainly, maintaining eye contact.

Suddenly, the cart shifted to a downward slope. I felt myself lose balance and start to tumble forward in the cart…right towards Heroine. With quick reflexes, I thrust out my arms and caught her shoulders, consequently putting all my weight on her. I expected us both to fall onto the seat of the cart, but she stayed perfectly still. It was almost like I was supporting myself against a wall. My body stopped immediately upon putting pressure on her shoulders. My face…stopped a few inches from hers.

Heroine raised her eyes and her dark grin grew slightly. "Quite bold, aren't we?" She said.

I stayed still, a little dumbfounded before coming back to my senses. I immediately pushed off of her, seeing as she could obviously handle it, and threw myself against my side of the cart. I felt a tiny singe of heat on my face and instantly realized I was blushing. I mentally smacked myself for not paying attention to the minecart's path.

"Sorry." I muttered, looking down at the floor, too embarrassed to say much else.

I heard Heroine giggle as the cart straightened back out and even that sent a small shiver down my spine. I wasn't sure why, but Heroine's presence had a rather chilling effect on me. The way she talked, smiled, and even giggled seemed off from what I would consider normal behavior for a person. But then again, she wasn't exactly normal to begin with. Maybe this was one of her powers?

A bit of an awkward silence had arisen between the two of us, so I lifted my head to try and restart some sort of conversation, but when I did, she was gone. A quick surveillance of of the carts told me she had somehow moved back to the front one, staring ahead. I was a little freaked to be honest. There was no way she could gotten off my cart and hopped the other three to get to the front without a sound. Unless of course, she could teleport like Andr could. I repositioned myself back to a sitting position and let out a long sigh. Having one teleporting princess was bad enough, but two? Two was a disaster.

"Hiya teammate!" I heard an excitedly chipper voice exclaim from in front of me.

I looked up at the mine cart in front of me to see two new faces. One was that of a vibrant girl that looked to be about seventeen or eighteen and the other was a slightly older looking girl who might have been in her early twenties. The girl who had spoken was the younger one, who was dressed in a dark green hoodie of sorts, zipped up and with the hood flipped down. Strange, but good looking wavy orange hair extended from her head down to her shoulders. She had almost sparkling emerald eyes and a happy smile spread across her face. The other girl was dressed pretty much all in black. She wore an elegant, but old black dress that looked to cover her from her shoulders down. She wore a dark witches hat from which black hair seemed to leak out of, just as dark as her outfit. Her skin, however, was almost pale. A completely stark contrast from her outfit. Her eyes were more of a brown hazelnut color. I only noticed that for a second though, as she turned her face away from me shyly when she noticed me looking at her.

"Hi." I said, changing to sitting on my knees so I could talk with them at eye level.

"You must be Zyeke!" The girl with the hoodie exclaimed. "Nice to meet you."

She extended her hand, which the hoodie sleeve kind of flopped over. I had to hold back a chuckle. It seemed that the hoodie was a tiny bit too big for the person wearing it. I took her clothed hand and gave it a firm shake. I was actually a little surprised when she returned my handshake with the same intensity. Most girls and even a lot of guys at that age in high school could barely manage a small grip rather than a proper handshake, which made it kind of weird when I'd go in for a good handshake and then be the only one trying to give it. Needless to say, I was impressed.

"Nice to meet you, your highness." I said with a slight bow.

She giggled at my formal manner and let go of my hand. "You don't have to call me that!" She said with another giggle. "You can just call me by my name. Cupa."

"Alright then," I said with a smile. "Nice to meet you, Cupa."

She practically beamed with happiness when I called her by her name. I thought it kind of strange, but shrugged it off. I must say, I much appreciated the change from Heroine's haunting presence a minute ago. The girl next to her whispered something to Cupa, to which she laughed.

"Melinda, stop being so shy. Just say 'hi' to the guy." She said.

The witch girl, who I now knew to be Melinda, turned shyly over to me. After a slight pause, she reached out her hand hesitantly for a hand shake as Cupa had done. Her hand was shaking slightly, as if she was afraid I might smack it or something. Man, I'd never seen someone this shy. Read about them as watched their archetypes on television, but I never met one until now.

Even so, I reached out my hand to take hers as I normally would, but I didn't make it as firm as I usually would. I didn't want to scare her, however weird that may sound. Her handshake was much like what I'd expect from some people I know at school, but she did at least try to have near the end of the shake to return a bit of firmness.

I smiled. "Hi Melinda. Nice to meet you." She didn't say anything for a second or two, but I heard her respond. Although, it wasn't much louder than a whisper.

"Nice to to meet you." She echoed quietly as she released my hand. Even the way she released my hand was strange. She had slowly let my hand slip away and pulled hers back to her chest as if she was still afraid I was going hit it or something. In all my life I'd never met someone so timid. I kind of wanted to know why, but knew it would be wrong to ask. At least, not right now.

An bit of an awkward silence had fallen between Melinda and I. I wanted to say something to lift it, but I wasn't quite sure what to talk about. And besides that, she really didn't look like she wanted to talk. Thankfully, Cupa solved that problem for me.

"So, what mob are you affiliated with?" Cupa asked nonchalantly. "Quite frankly, I can't tell, though you must be one from the Overworld. You certainly don't look like a nether mob, am I right?"

I chuckled. "Well, kind of. No, I'm not a nether mob, but I'm also not really affiliated with any mob. I'm just…a normal human I guess." They both stared at me with dumbfounded looks. "What? There something wrong with being regular?" I said with a laugh.

"So…you're not a villager and you're not with any other mob affiliation. Are you like…Steve?" Cupa said, looking like she was having trouble grasping the concept that I was just a _human_. But then again, I suppose pure humans weren't exactly common in minecraft. Well, besides Steve that is and even that was a toss up, for me anyways.

I was just about to answer, when we suddenly burst out of our tunnel and into one of the largest caverns I had ever seen. It was amazing! Colossal structures made from stone and ores all combined to create beautiful shining stalactites and stalagmites that glittered from the rays of light that beamed through man-made holes cut out at the top of the cavern. I now understood why we hadn't seen a single mineral on our trip. It seemed like every nearby mineral was dug up and moved to this one spot. It had its due effect, the view was breathe taking. And the cavern wasn't even the spotlight. Our final destination was what can only be described as a white castle. On first glance, I literally thought it was made out of bones on account that the material didn't appear to be stone, but on closer inspection, I could easily distinguish the more lively color of nether quartz from the duller white of bones. I breathed a sigh of relief.

The castle was huge! Large enough to fill a decent mass inside the cavern, complete with looming towers and a guarded outer wall. There were three towers, the middle being the largest that jutted out from the castle's main structure. I could spy outer walkways and balconies higher up, but only a few openings for the lower "windows" of the castle were it's only highlight below. Even so, the framework and architectural design was nothing short of, what I'd call, a master builder in minecraft. Except, this was slightly beyond what you could do with normal blocks. It looked to me as if the quartz had been chiseled at some points to accent the walls, but I couldn't make them out from the rail we were riding. We finally stopped just outside the gate, which was made of iron bars. It began to rise as we exited our means of transportation and we began to enter.

The gate gave way to a humungous courtyard that was almost as astonishing as the castle. The ground was made stone brick that carved a pathway to a gorgeous nether quartz fountain. It was made of three levels with a tiny statue of a skeleton in iron armor riding a spider. Water cascaded from the top level down to the bottom, creating the illusion of sparkles form the surrounding quartz. The grass was littered with flowers and patches of tall grass. The stone brick path split off to the side towards benches and shrubbery also shaped into the skeleton and spider mobs, presumably for relaxation. And of course, straight ahead, past the fountain, led to the castle entrance.

Two solid dark oak doors, also reinforced with iron molding, made a cool contrast to the quartz walls and steps that led up to it. As we walked up, however, the door opened of its own accord with a mighty sound. Two dozen mobs of skeletons appeared from behind the other side of the door and slowly approached us. My team walked up the steps to meet them, but I lagged behind a little bit. I know I was in a competition with mobs and obviously staying within another mobs kingdom, I could see now that it was probably the skeleton kingdom, but even so, I was a little wary of my long-time avatar foes.

One of the skeletons broke off from the group and approached Heroine. He looked like he was trying to speak, but all that came out were a bunch of clicks and chatters that I had no idea how to decipher. It seemed to mean something to Heroine though, as she nodded and gave a wave of her hand, seeming to give it permission to move on. The skeleton just nodded its own head and began walking back into the castle, gesturing for the rest to follow. As we walked inside, the remaining skeletons took rank behind us and shut the doors.

My first thought upon seeing the first room was simple. _Damn!_ The first room was more like a large room that led to other rooms. Some of the floor was carpeted separate from the marble floor, carving out a few directions to new places. There were two large staircases that led up to an upper level, two hallways to the left and right, and even doors below the staircases. Chandeliers made from wooden posts and glow stone hung from the ceilings to provide lighting and torches covered the walls.

Our skeleton guide led us up the stairs to which I saw there was another set of doors similar to the ones for the front of the castle, just on a bit of a smaller scale. There were also two regular size doors that were right next to the top of the stairs, but it didn't seem like they were important to our guide, so we just walked passed them. Although, I did wonder why the door we were facing was larger and more elaborate than just having a double regular minecraft door entrance. But, this wasn't my castle. It took about half the team of skeletons working together to get this door open, but they did and I then understood why the door was so big.

The doors opened up into a large and decorated throne room. Collumns made from quartz, hand chisled with strange markings and skeleton drawings, lined either side of the door, extending all the way down the room. Red carpet was overlaid in between these columns to replace the quartz floor and even some cool realistic looking skeleton statues were placed in between each column space. However, what really threw me back was what awaited us at the end of the hall. Not necessarily the throne, but what sat on the throne.

The throne was made from solid gold with cushions formed from red wool. Red seemed to be a liked color in this kingdom, I thought to myself. The throne was almost as large as the columns and one look told me why. Sitting on his gold throne could no more be described than a giant minecraft skeleton. Its bones were about double the size of the largest dinosaur you could think of! He wore a crown made from gold as well, decorated with gems of diamond and emerald. What got to me though were his eyes, or rather, lack thereof. When I looked at him, I saw nothing but blank, black sockets staring back at me. Not exactly the most warm of sights.

He turned his head towards, his crackling bones sending amplified thunderous echoes throughout the throne room. He must have been pretty old. His eyes narrowed and his skeleton jaw began to open. He made a hard, raspy sound as if he was clearing out his throat to speak, which only made another loud echo.

"Grettings contestants. Welcome to the twenty fifth annual monster games! I am glad to see so many familiar faces." His eye sockets flicked around the group. "And some new ones…interesting. Guards! Bring our new contestants closer so that I may get a better look at them."

Immediately, I found a skeleton soldier at my side, escorting me to the front of the group. A quick look revealed that MT, Sully, Ramirez, Ethan, Katrina, and Bryce were also being moved up. Once in plain view, the skeleton king looked us over more closely. "Very curious…MT, you may step back." He said with a wave of his bony hand. MT looked just about as confused as we felt, but he stepped back into the group of princesses.

The king now set his gaze on us. "You six should know that I am very perceptive despite my lack of eyes. Instead of having what you may call normal sight, I have the ability, if you'd like to call it that, to see in black and white…outlines, if you will. This enables me to very easily distinguish mob types, even those in human form. Each being of minecraftia has a mob affiliation, even if they are the only one in their group. You four share a similar origin, however it is not among any minecraftian affiliation I have seen before. Forgive my cliché, but what exactly are you?" He asked.

It felt kind of strange to be asked such a question. Being human was something I'm sure we all took for granted in our lives, yet here it was a foreign concept. The only thing that concerned me was this: was being human dangerous? It may seem silly, but remembering the looks I got from Cupa and Melinda on the minecart ride weren't exactly encouraging. I look to Katrina and Ethan for any help or consolation, but they just shared the same worried look I'm sure I had. Ramirez just stood there quietly, hoodie flipped up and Sully just seemed deep in thought.

"Well, we're all just human. From earth, duh!" Bryce exclaimed out to the king. "I thought that was pretty obvious."

The three of us were shocked at Bryce's sudden response, particularly because we weren't sure he understood the weight of his response. The king's eyes narrowed at Bryce. "I see…so you all are the ones who have been killing my skeleton mobs from your other world using creatures like Steve. Guards!"

Instantly, we were surrounded by the skeletons whom I thought were just statues a moment before. They had stood so still! They must be the king's first hand soldiers. This wasn't good. Bryce's color seemed to drain a little from his face, as he moved quickly to join the rest of us. The skeletons form a tight circle, drawing their weapons. Most of them were arches equipped with enchanted bows, however some were swordsmen, given diamond swords that were also enchanted. With what, I had no clue, and I certainly didn't want to find out.

We all moved closer to each other to cover each other's backs. I drew my staff from my back and twirled it around expertly before taking a defensive stance. Katrina and Ethan took my left flank. Ethan reached down below his hoodie to grab what looked like two potions of harming. I only got a brief glimpse, but it looked like he had pimped himself out with miniature potions all attached to his belt, which he used his hoodie to conceal. Katrina was right next to him, drawing a wicked samurai-style blade. It looked like the real deal, not one of those display pieces you often see in people's homes.

Bryce and Ramirez took up my right flank. Bryce had since unstrapped his scythe from his back, twirling it menacingly towards our skeleton foes, the hard diamond slicing through the air before he too pulled it back towards him in a defensive stance. At least the boy knew when to fight on the defensive than the offensive. Ramirez drew a rapier sword from his side that looked to be just as well made as Katrina's samurai sword. He threw a couple lightning fast strikes through the air before readying himself as well. Sully took the rear of our group, bow already drawn and pulled taught with an arrow at the ready. We were all ready for a fight, but hadn't expected one so soon. And most certainly not from our host. However, it seemed unavoidable.

"Skeletons! Attack!" The king roared.

**Hey guys! Hope you all enjoyed the fourth chapter of the updated story. Sorry it wasn't posted as soon as I'd hoped, but I think the extra time I spent on it paid off, if only a little. Anyway, please make sure to leave a review and follow and favorite the story if you haven't already! Also, OC of Ramirez goes to RED Medic. Thank you for the OC and I hope to use him well. Until next time.**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Take down the archers!" I shouted and surged forward.

From our stances and attitudes, the skeleton group had to assume that we were going to fight defensively. Normally, there wouldn't be a problem with that for me if the fight was normal hand to hand or melee weapon to melee weapon contact. But, a lot of these skeletons were armed with bows, and enchanted ones at that. They were, no doubt, ready to fire and remaining stationary would only make us easier targets. Not to mention that skeletons were the best ranged combatants in the game, even if they were mindless. Moving would make us more difficult to target, but we'd have to take down the archers first to ensure a victory.

I rushed at nearest skeleton, who already had his bow raised and pointed directly at me. I kept my eye planted on his bony hands and waited for that tiny flicker of movement, that small moment of tension in the bow and the archer's hand. The skeleton pulled its hand ever so slightly back before releasing his arrow, but I had already caught it. I turned my torso sideways to avoid the arrow and shifted my hands to the bottom of my staff. With a yell, I swung the stick in an upward diagonal, making contact with the creature's skull and lobbing it clean off its bony shoulders. The lifeless body slumped to the ground.

I didn't have time to rejoice however, because a sword wielding skeleton was on me in a second. I concentrated heavily on his swings, dodging to the left and right while also making sure to move back away from any more potential soldiers. I didn't want to risk blocking with my staff unless it was necessary. As much as I hated to admit it, my staff was really only a stick. Granted it was probably thick enough to withstand a few blows from a normal sword on Earth, I had no idea if it could take a swing from an enchanted diamond sword. After the fourth swing, I saw an opening. After ducking down to avoid to horizontal slice to me neck, I spun around and thrust my staff into the skeleton's ribcage. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't wearing any armor.

Sing a small amount of strength, I was easily able to lift the skeleton up on the end of my staff. I suppose the human anatomy can become quite light without an flesh. I quickly surveyed my surroundings, searching for an archer skeleton. There wasn't one too far away, however he had his bow drawn and arrow aimed at Ramirez, who was busy fighting another skeleton.

"Hey broken bones!" I shouted at it, hoping to momentarily divert its attention. I threw the other skeleton off my staff towards the archer, who had just happened to turn its head. They both crashed into each other with clash of bones, falling in a jumbled heap on the ground.

I allowed myself a small smile of victory. I was about to go over and help Ramirez, but upon examination, it looked like the skeleton he was fighting needed the assistance. It was a swordsman like the one I had been fighting, except this one had iron armor equipped on his chest and head. This wasn't stopping Ramirez though. He easily deflected the skeleton's advances with his fencing sword, parrying the blows away instead of stopping them completely. After a couple of strikes, I saw him go on the offensive for just a second, but it seemed like more than enough time for his to hack off the skeleton's sword wielding arm. The sword dropped to the ground with a clang and Ramirez took the opportunity to behead the beast.

Another look around revealed that the others had taken my advice, as there were barely any archer skeletons left. However, the remaining ones had backed off to the back of their ranks, trying to avoid being targeted and moving the swordsmen to the front lines, giving them time to provide cover from the back. I jumped to the right as I noticed one of them was aiming for me. Good thing too, because I was barely able to dodge the arrow it fired. This wasn't good. If the archers were left unattended, they would have more time to lineup their shots. We needed to take the last of them out, and fast!

I bumped up against someone and was about to retaliate when I realized that I'd bumped up against someone _solid_. It was Bryce.

"Hey man, how you holding up?" He asked, slashing a skeleton clean in half with his scythe.

"Okay for now, but we need to take out the rest of those archers." My eyes widened. "Duck!" I placed a hand on his shoulder and dropped. An arrow whizzed past above our heads. Lucky for us, it struck another skeleton who was coming to attack.

"Dammit, I see what you mean." He said. "Got any ideas?"

As a matter of fact, I did. Bryce had an amazing advantage over these animated boneheads. He had a bb gun! If it fired metallic bbs like I thought it did, it was possible to fracture one of the archer's main limbs. Without an arm or a leg, they wouldn't be able to shoot. Of course, this would all depend on Bryce's skill with his pistol and the quality. And we had to get close enough to the rank of archers without getting shot ourselves. We needed someone to cover for us. But, I think it was a gamble we'd have to take.

I spotted Sully taking cover behind one of the columns, doing his best to pick off the archers, but there were too many concentrated on his position, so he settled for any swordsmen he could hit. "Get over to Sully. Get behind his pillar." I said to him and took off. We took off running. Bryce and I ducked behind Sully's column. I was thankful that they made the columns as large as the room.

"Hey!" Sully exclaimed. "You come to help me out?"

"Not exactly man." I replied. "More like we need yours. I've got a plan to take out those damn archers." I tried to sound as sure of myself as I'd have liked to be.

"Well, anything's better than being stuck here like this." Sully readied an arrow and quickly turned around the pillar and fired off a shot. He missed the nearest skeleton by a couple feet. The barrage of arrows intensified. " Dang it!I don't have enough time to line up my shots." He spat, clearly frustrated.

"Whatever you're brilliant plan is, now would be the time to share." Bryce said, getting antsy about sitting around.

I scanned the battlefield again. Katrina and the rest were starting to wear down from the overwhelming force of the skeleton swordsman and having to watch their backs for arrows. Sure, they'd taken out a great portion of the original count, but there were still plenty left to fight. Although, they did seem like they were the last of the reserves that were here. Even so, if we didn't take out those archers now, there was no way we could last.

My plan was pretty simple and relied on me completely gaining the skeleton archers attention. All of them. I was going to be a decoy for their fire. In the meantime, Bryce was going to have to rush to the group using his bb pistol to take some important limb out of each of them. And with their attention focused on me, Sully could cover Bryce since he'd have the time to aim properly. However, that left me in the most danger. Bryce had to be quick and efficient in order for this to work. Not only for my sake, but the skeletons outnumbered the three of us at least four to one. Once Bryce got going, they were going to catch on and change their tactics. I know this was shaky, but I couldn't think of anything else.

"Alright. Bryce, how good are you with those?" I asked, gesturing to his pistols.

He smirked. "The best." He answered. "I practice with em every day."

"Okay then. Here's what we're going to do. Bryce, you're going to be the main player. You're job, first and foremost, is to take incapacitate those archers. Sully, you're going to give him cover."

"Dude, I can barely get a shot off, much less provide cover fire from this position." He said.

"I know. That's why I'm going to draw their fire. Now, I don't know how long I'm going to be able to keep their attention, so we're going to have to move quick." I looked at Bryce. "Bryce, once you get moving and begin popping of the first of the skeletons, the rest are going to catch on pretty quickly. You need to be extremely fast and precise on each shot. Remember, you're not trying to kill them, just injure them so they can't fire anymore. And you…" I said, turning to Sully, "Are to provide cover fire only for him. Do not try and help me out in any way or else they'll overwhelm you again with a barrage, probably taking us out in the process. Got it?" I stated, not really asking it as a question.

Bruce nodded, but Sully was hesitated. "You sure about this man? You think you can dodge that many boners?"

"I burst out laughing at Sully's choice of words and so did Bryce. Sully joined too after realizing his unintended joke. It probably wasn't the right time to be telling jokes, but you know what? If I was going to go, I'd rather go out laughing. Not that I had any intention of that of course.

"Don't really have much of a choice, do I?" I said. I pointed to the carnage that the others were causing with the swordsmen. You could easily see that they were slowing down. It was getting harder and harder for them to dodge both swords and arrows. One nearly clipped Ethan's ear off! "They're going to get killed fighting on like this. We gotta stop it." I smiled. "Besides, we got something these things could never have." I turned to them both and threw a thuimbs up. "The will to win."

Bryce shook his head, but I could see him grinning. Sully chuckled. "You're nuts dude, ya know that?"

"Hah. Yeah, I know." I said. I let the smile drop from my face, replaced with a hard look of concentration. "On three." Sully pulled back his bow, arrow ready to fire. Bryce exchanged his scythe out for his two bb pistols. He moved in position to dash out of there. They both nodded that they were ready. I nodded back in conformation. "Three. Two. One. Go!"

I ran out from behind the pillar. "Hey! Bone bags!" I shouted at the archers. I pulled out my staff and gripped it at the right end. "Have a present!" I shouted as I twirled and hurled the huge stick towards the group. I grinned as I successfully knocked two to the floor. That was more than enough. With me out in the open, they all focused their attention solely on me. I immediately dove into a cartwheel as I felt two arrows whiz by. As I was coming out of it, I spotted another skeleton with his shot aimed directly at my chest. Quickly, I transitioned into a back flip. It was just close enough. The arrow whizzed past my shirt, taking a strip out with it. I kept with it, back flipping and moving to keep the rest of the skeletons from getting a clear shot. It didn't stop them from shooting though.

I was running out of space between me and the nearest column when I spotted something on the floor. It was a discarded piece of an iron chest plate from one of the skeleton swordsmen. On my last back flip, I planted both my hands on it and flipped around with it in my hands. I instantly ducked down into a ball and covered as much of my body as I could. I felt and heard two pings bounce off my makeshift shield. I was now a sitting duck, so if Bryce was gonna make his move, he had better do it now!

I felt another ping on the armor before I heard another blessed sound. The soft _pfft_ of a bb gun. I jumped out off my curled position to see Bryce running quickly in between the mass of archers, shooting and hitting out arms and legs with deadly accuracy. The group was now more worried about Bryce and turned its attention away from me momentarily. I took advantage of that opportunity.

With a jump and a twist to build up momentum, I hurled the chest piece of armor towards the back end of the archers, who were trying to get a shot on Bryce. The metal piece smashed into the back three, splintering bones, the debris taking one more down to the floor. Sully was backing us up too, taking out the back archers that I'd missed while Bryce charged through the middle. Soon, all that was left of the archers were just limbless skeletons that couldn't hold a weapon. I shouted a relieved victory cry and we went to help out our friends with the last of the swordsmen.

With reinforcements and no ranged backup, we made quick work of the rest of the soldiers. Soon, there were no more left. We all stood in a dispersed group, panting and sweating. There were too many broken body parts lying amongst the remains of battle to even begin to count. It was over and we all gave a short cheer before turning back to the skeleton king, weapons ready and with renewed energy. I expected him to be furious, shouting for more guards or threatening us, but strangely, I saw none of those qualities. Instead, I saw him shaking, not with anger, but with laughter.

"Good show lads. I didn't think you had it in you." He said in between his raspy laughs. "You've more than proven you're worth to compete in these games. You've definitely got the courage." He paused to look at the remains of his soldiers. "Alright boys, shows over. You can drop the act."

I was shocked that he couldn't realize that we had completely decimated his small army of skeletons, until I saw the most amazing and horrifying of sights. Bits and pieces of bone started moving on the battle field. Hands and limbs re-attached themselves to their proper joints and heads were placed back on shoulders with a twist and crackle of bone. The skeletons were re-assembling themselves without so much as a thought. If this had truly been a real fight, I had no idea how we would have dealt with this. We would have not only been overwhelmed by sheer numbers eventually, but we'd never even been able to take down one foe with us. That thought truly terrified me. I tried not to let it show.

"Was that really necessary?" I heard MT shout from the crowd of princesses. I had actually forgotten they were there to be honest. MT broke away from the group and dashed over to us. "Are you guys alright? Argh, I'm so sorry I couldn't help. I wanted to but they…" He flashed a demeaning look towards the princesses, "wouldn't let me."

I smacked him on the back. "Eh, we're ok. That was just a warm up, right guys?" I said with a laugh.

They all chuckled with me, but we all knew we barely got out of that alive. We couldn't let our competition know that though. If they knew we had a hard time fighting just against a large group of skeletons, it would be a major blow to our reputation as competitors. And if we were labeled as weak, we'd be the first ones targeted in whatever challenge of fight we participated in. That was definitely something we wanted to avoid.

"Hmm, so I see." The skeleton king said. "Well, now that that little display is over, I must now uphold my duties as this year's host to the twenty fifth annual monster games." He cleared his throat before continuing. "It has been decided that I will host the games this year, so I please ask you to enjoy your stay here while you are in the games. In a minute, my skeletons will show you to your rooms that you will be staying in for the remainder of your time here. But first, I must announce that the first event in these games will be in one day. The event is simple. It shall be a game of capture the flag between the teams. There shall be one flag and the first team to bring it back to their "base" will be declared the winner. Anything is allowed, any of your abilities or magic. That will be all." He clapped his hands together. In response, several skeletons gathered together to open the throne room door and joined the group of princesses. "Skeletons, please escort our guests to their rooms. However, I would like to speak to you seven in private for a moment."

As instructed, the skeletons began to led out the rest of our competitors. But, before they were all herded out, I heard someone call my name.

"Zyeke! Catch!"

I heard something whizzing through the air and turned quickly in that direction. I caught my homemade staff in mid-flight with my right arm. I looked up to see Cupa smiling and waving at me before she too was removed from the throne room. I smiled. I'd have to thank her later. I was wondering where my staff had gone to. I put it back in its sling before returning my attention back to the skeleton king.

The king cleared his throat once again. "Before I let you go back to your rooms, I feel there are some things I should address with you before you leave here. There are three things you all should know. First, by competing in these games, you're risking a lot, more than just you're lives. You all are the first humans I have seen come into this world. You're the first human the princesses have seen, with the exception of you MT." We all looked at him, a little confused. He seemed perfectly human enough. Maybe he was a villager human mob or something? Possibly? MT didn't respond however, and just looked back at the king, waiting for him to continue. And after a few seconds, he did. "You not only face dangers in the arena, but also outside. The mob princesses are especially fond of human males, as with any other female Human mob. Especially the golem and undead princesses, for the obvious reasons that one is a protector of them and one is a dangerous predator of them. I would suggest steering clear of my staff of human mobs around my castle. While I have given orders that you are not to be touched, there are some who might find the temptation of a human too great. They will be punished of course, but you will already be dead, so that wouldn't really matter to you would it?"

We all gave each other concerned and confused looks, but nonetheless we agreed. I wondered if human of, I suppose villager human mobs in this case, were rare. Even then, there had to be more males among the other mob groups. Why would they take a particular interest in us? I sighed. It was just another weird and unanswered question I was going to have to just deal with.

"Second, the princesses will always be physically stronger than you. If you are to win these games, you must conquer their strength with strategy. I can see you have figured this out to an extent." He gestured to our weapons. "You have learned that with careful measures and the right equipment, you can create things that exist from your world. Very clever, but you must be able to do better than that if you want win. Be sure not to count out that items native to minecraft can also help you. And lastly, it would be smart to get to know you're teammates well. You'll most likely be needing them just as much as they will need you."

I couldn't disagree with his advice for sure. We really had to stay on our toes if we were really going to stand any sort of a chance for these games. "Thank you, your highness. We will." I said with a small bow. The others gave their thanks as well and bowed.

"Good. Now, you have one human day to rest, think, strategize, or to do whatever you see fit so long as it does not harm my kingdom. Skeletons, take Zyeke to his room." He said with a wave of his hands. As instructed, a group was at the ready to escort us out.

We exited the throne room and took the left door next to it. It led into a hallway with a good number of rooms. The floor was made of red carpet and a few pictures were hung on the wall as decoration. We stopped in front of a wooden door with the number "16" on it. A skeleton opened the door for me. I thanked it, gave one last goodbye to my friends and went inside.

The room was much like a hotel room. There were carpets on the floor, two small bedside tables were next to a rather luxurious bed. There were also a couple of chests, a brewing stand on top of a furnace, an anvil, and a crafting table next to a cauldron filled with water. It kind of resembled a little kitchen area. I threw my sling and stick on the bed and sat down. My muscles relaxed, grateful for the rest after such a testing battle. The king was right. If I was going to stand a chance at all, I needed some sort of assistance and plan for playing. And I think the first thing I needed to do was get myself a better weapon.

**Hey guys! Hope you've enjoyed the chapter and I don't think I've kept you waiting too long this time. I hope I'm doing better with the revisions of chapters you've seen before, but please feel free to write own any comments, concerns, or advice you want to give me in the review section of the story ^_^. Don't forget to follow/favorite and I will continue to write for both stories. Until next time.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Ramirez walked among the beautiful courtyard grounds. He had gotten antsy after being cooped up in his room for so long and decided to take a stroll. Outside had definitely been a good choice. He always enjoyed being outside, but maybe that was because of where he came from. In Hawaii, nature's wonders were always out on display. The flowers and shrubbery amongst the tall grass in the courtyard reminded him a lot of his home.

He'd been born and raised in Hawaii with his father and mother. They lived beachside, more or less. It was no more than a short walk away anyway. He always enjoyed taking his weekends to go surfing and hanging out with his friends as he grew. They all really loved surfing. Maybe most would see that as a little stereotypical to Hawaiians, but he didn't care. They even had mini competitions against one another every once and a while. They'd all gotten really good.

Then he left for college. He was quite surprised at the transition from high school to college. It was a heck of a lot better in his opinion. The teachers expected you to do your work and never harassed you about it. Often times you would get out around noon and have the rest of the day to do homework and/or just lay around. It became a heck of a lot easier to hang out with his friends too and with the college being beachside, they met nearly daily for surfing.

He smiled in reminiscence of those fond memories. Of course, this was all before that fated night.

It was like any other normal day, he did his assigned courses, he surfed with his friends into the late afternoon, only two of them were there though. Joey had apparently promised to spend some time with his girlfriend and they talked about how they would tease him about that later. It was just another great day.

But when his friends wanted to call it a day, Ramirez decided to stay behind, wanting desperately to work on a new trip he'd been having trouble with. He worked on it well through the late afternoon and into the early evening. It was very dark by the time he decided to call it a night. He changed into the clothes he was wearing now and began his walk back to his dormitory.

Everything was fine until he was about halfway there. He was walking down a popular shop district, when something caught his eye in one of the shop alleyways. Something was shining extremely brightly around one of the bends. He stopped to stare at the dimly illuminated alley hall and listened carefully. Then, he bolted towards the source, afraid that maybe a fire had somehow started inside one of the dumpsters. The source was indeed coming from inside a half-opened dumpster, but it wasn't from a fire. There were no tongues of flame spewing out from the small opening. Heck there wasn't even any sparks.

This intrigued him. He wondered what the object was that was making such a brilliant light and why someone would just throw it away. Cautiously, he approached the dumpster. Once he was within arms reach of the lid, rested his hand on top of the black plastic. It wasn't hot, so whatever it was wasn't a danger to him or anything around him. That calmed him down a little. But, in hindsight, he really shouldn't have been.

He flipped open the lid quickly. The light intensified almost immediately, to his surprise, and blinded him, forcing his hands over his eyes. He stumbled back blindly, trying to get away from the strange light. He only made it a couple steps though, before something struck the back of his head worse than his surfboard could if it smacked him in the head in a wipeout. He dropped to the floor and felt his vision going dark. The light didn't bother him anymore. Actually, he wished for it to stay and come back as it slowly dimmed until he was left alone in the now inky black alleyway.

When he regained consciousness, he found himself in a place completely foreign to him in every way. The ground was astringent purple, hard and hot. As a matter of fact, he was sweating profusely. It was hotter than he'd ever experience under Hawaii's summer sun! He bolted to his feet and was met with throbbing from his head. His vision blurred and for a moment, he was afraid he was going to pass out again.

He didn't though, and kept on his feet as he stumbled around until his vision came back. He almost wished it hadn't. Standing directly in front of him was a creature of the most frightening and disturbing sort he'd ever seen. It was a creature that resembled a pig, only its skin was half rotted away, showing the exposed bone and flesh of a rib cage which resembled a human's, as he recognized the structure from atoning. It's face s half rotted and it was holding what looked to be a yellow type of broadsword. It snorted at him. A pig's snort.

He gasped and jumped back, mind reeling over what it had just taken in. The pig creature just stared at him for a moment in confusion, before walking away at a slow pace. The encounter was fast and hair raising for Ramirez,nub the was glad that it at least didn't try to attack him. Him having no weapon to fight with was definitely a disadvantage. He calmed his nerves down and scanned his surroundings. What he saw almost horrified him more than the pig creature. He was in what could only be described as hell. Or at least a good resemblance.

The purple ground was made from some sort of stone that he had n idea how to identify and it extended as far as the eye could see. Sluggish waterfalls of lava cascaded down some of this stone and into an even more expansive sea of lava. In the distance, he could spot a cluster of some sort of cube-like object that was emitting a faint glow. He rubbed his eyes and pinched himself. Had he gone to hell? No, he felt very much alive and there was no any this could be a dream. His mind could never imagine a place like this on its own.

He stayed stationary for a few minutes taking it all in until he finally decided to start moving. He might as well explore this new environment and hopefully find someone to tell him where he was exactly. That is, if there were any people here besides those weird pig creatures. There was no way he was going to try and talk to those things. So, with a deep breathe, he picked a direction and started walking.

He explored for a decent bit, but found nothing more than the cliff, pits of lava, and more of those sickening pig creatures. The only good thing about them was that they didn't ever once try and attack him or act threatening in any way towards him. Soon, he just ignored them and kept moving in the direction he was headed, hoping to find some sort of landmark, or better yet, someone other than the rotten pig husks he kept running into.

In a way, he got his wish, but not at all what he wanted. He was walking along, when he heard a ghastly scream come from somewhere above him. He reached for his ears to block out the unnatural screech, but by the time he had, the scram stopped. Suddenly, something crashed into the ground beside him, exploding, knocking him to the found and making a rather decent size hole. Pained, he looked up to see who had thrown whatever explosive device had blown up next to him, nearly killing him.

Only it wasn't a who. It was a what. The thing he saw floating above him was worse than the pig creatures he'd seen before. It was a large shaped cube, a pale white creature with gray eyes and a ghostly face that appeared tone crying. Underneath its large body, floated many tentacles that swayed back and forth in the air as it moved. It's eyes locked on him as he got to his feet again. It let out another ear splitting screech again and Ramirez finally understood where the explosion from before had come from. As the thing was screaming, it opened its large mouth and spit forth a great flaming ball that was quickly approaching the spot he was standing.

He quickly left to the side just in time to avoid another explosion, landing hand on his hands and knees. Pain shot through his body, but he had to get up. It wouldn't be long before that thing spit another one of this fireballs at him. Ramirez jumped up and started running. When heard the thing scream again, he changed direction to avoid the attack. Soon, his life was filled with nothing more than his own breathing, screaming, and explosions.

He ran and ran, desperately wanting to escape this deathly creature that was chasing him. Why had it even attacked him in the first place? He had done nothing wrong. Why couldn't it just leave him be like the pig creatures? What had he done to deserve coming here? These questions whined through his head as he ran away, picking up speed. But no matter how fast or what direction he took, the floating creature was always right on his tail, relentlessly firing those despicable fireballs with each and every scream.

Just when his lungs were about to burst and he was beginning to lose hope, he saw something up ahead. It was something else that puzzled him and would have given him pause had he not been running for his life. It was a rectangular structure composed of a deep purplish black stone that was turned vertically as if like a door. What astonished him was that this weird structure was surrounded by purples particles and displayed a dark purple wall of light on the inside. Almost like a…portal!

Desperate and renewed with possible hope, he dashed as fast as he could towards the rectangle. The creature above him started firing more intently, seeming to want to stop him from reaching that structure. This gave him courage and he dove into the purple particles just as a fireball hit the side of the rectangle and he blacked out after hearing a loud resounding _boom._

When he awoke for the second time, his surroundings had drastically changed. Now he was in what looked to be a dimly lit cave. It was damp and cool, which seemed like a blessing compared to the super heated environment he'd been in. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he sat up and looked around. The cave he was in was filled with what looked like burnt out torches at first, but they streamed constant dim light throughout the cave. It was also tinted red instead of a dark amber.

His hand brushed against something scratchy and rough. He looked down to see a piece of paper with writing scrawled out in cursive. This disinterested him though, when he saw what was laying next to it. It was his rapier from his dorm, complete with his sharpener and sheath! He instantly grabbed at it and held it in his hands, grasping the only thing that resembled home. He could hardly believe it. He stood up slowly, uncertain of where the ceiling was, and strapped the sheath to his belt loop. Afterwards, he picked up the note and a book that had also been laying beside it.

Little had he known that that note would send him to where he was now, the games. The book had been a guide to the world he was in, now known to him as minecraft, and though it was strange, he still marveled about the simple natural beauties around him. He'd walked quite a bit after recalling the events of his arrival and decided to take a seat on one of the nearby benches. Even the simple bench intrigued him, as it had to be made from wooden fence posts, stairs, and signs to fit its purpose. So many things had to be restructured to fit their earthly counterparts here. Perhaps that's what made this world so fascinating to him. After all, he had always loved thinking "outside the box" when it came to solving problems. The straightforward way always seemed so dull to him.

He looked up at the whole in the cavern that exposed the mid-afternoon sky. The sun was half visible from the angle the hole provided. He smiled and closed his eyes, relaxing on the bench. It was so peaceful. The thought of this peace, however, made him think of the upcoming challenge. He should probably meet with the rest of his team sometime to discuss a basic plan for when the time came. Which meant that he would have to find Zyeke and the rest of them soon, preferably before night.

Some casted a quick shadow over his eyes. He opened them immediately and scanned the air. Thankfully, he heard no scream, to which he sighed mentally. He had acquired a major disliking to those floating creatures, which He now knew as ghosts, and did not wish to encounter another one for as long as he lived. Although, what he saw still almost sent him running again.

Way up above him, he saw a small thing floating about in the air with white tentacles drifting behind. Ramirez nearly freaked out, but he realized that the thing up above was much too small to be one of those creatures he saw in that god forsaken place. He had to squint, but he could just make out the shape of a girl in a white dress moving around in the sky. The tentacles he had seen came from her head, or so he had thought, until he realized it was a weird hat of sorts. That was all he could make of her from his level.

He assumed that the girl must be Charlette, the princess of the ghasts. Well, so long as she didn't shoot fireballs at him, he was content with her flying through the air. He closed his eyes again, going back to his relaxed state. He was fairly sure he'd be alright, but he made sure to keep his ears open, just in case.

"Come and get it." Hilda said with a smirk.

Now I really was in a pickle. My direct means of escape had taken an…unexpected route, one I couldn't follow. Damn it. Now I had to choose one of two options. Fight Hilda and attempt to get the lever piece to fall out of its holding place, or think of another way out of here. Unfortunately, I already thought of another escape route. I could use my newly powered staff to try and break down the bookcases, but there were two problems with this plan. One was that I wasn't sure that I would be able to break them down fast enough before Hilda could stop me. Two, I really didn't want to use my weapon, for concern of breaking the diamond mechanism. It was a bind any way you looked at it.

"Well, what are you waiting for Zyeke? Scared of a little foreplay?" She asked in a slightly teasing tone. "If you don't make a move soon, I promise you. I will."

I was disgusted, but it appeared that Hilda was becoming impatient with her little game. I needed to think of something quick, but my brain kept drawing a blank. I'd truly never encountered a situation like this before. Not in movies, not in games, and certainly not in real life. How was I going to get out of here with my weapon, body, and soul still intact? No solution was apparent.

Hilda smiled. "Time's up." She said as she dashed toward me.

She was fast! I reacted just quickly enough to block a punch from one of her gloved hands. She quickly turned her body for a left hook towards my face. I ducked down, putting my right foot behind hers and spinning around behind her. At the same time, my hands mimicked my leg's spinning motion and with a controlled burst of energy, I slammed my two palms into the side of her ribs.

She gasped out loud and fell to the floor. I backed away quickly, just in case she could actually get up after that last hit. Much to my shock, she bounced right back up and sent another playful smile at me. Unbelievable! I had directed my hit right in between her ribs, which would have likely broken at least one from a normal person. I didn't exactly expect that result, but I least thought she'd be at least a little injured. She was definitely a lot stronger than she looked.

"You're going to have to do better than that Zyeke." She said. "Or else this will be over very soon."

She came at me again, this time much quicker than before. I was ready though. She threw a flurry of punches, aimed at just about any vital area I had. I focused on her torso and upper arm more than I did her fists, blocking and dodging consistently, making sure not to run up against a wall when I moved. While she continued her onslaught, I took the time to examine her moves quickly. Her style of fighting relied on speed and not so much on power. Meaning she focused more on deliver quick blows to either multiple vulnerable areas or to one area in particular. Her feet hardly moved, queuing me in that she was more of a upper body fighter.

I saw my opportunity to counter in an instant. I moved at a forty-five degree angle, not even bothering to lift a hand to block the left jab she had aimed at my nose. Moving my hands in a clockwise circle, I landed two hard hits with the back of my hand on the same spot of her stomach. She winced and I hopped forward slightly to deliver a side kick again to the same spot. She let out a grunt as she was pushed back a foot or two.

I moved in for an attack of my own when Hilda did something I wasn't prepared for. With a flick of her hand, I saw an thin expanse of black energy erupt into her palm. She threw it at me and I threw myself to the side to avoid it. I wasn't fast enough. The edge clipped the side of my shoulder. The black energy clung to my shirt and almost immediately I felt my left shoulder going numb. I gasped and threw my shirt away from my body, backing away once again, right hand holding my left shoulder. Hilda just laughed.

"That was a taste of my wither energy. I assume you're familiar with the concept? If it touches you, it weakens your body and replenishes mine." She said. "For example, my stomach that you had actually managed to bruise is already healed and back to it's normal state."

Crap! I forgot about that. I let myself get too caught up in the martial arts aspect of fighting that I had forgotten about the princesses's abilities due to their mob affiliation. They were no doubt more powerful than her normal mob minions that I faced in the nether before. Very much so, in fact. My left shoulder had almost gone numb and weak. In a way, my shirt probably had saved me. If that had struck my shoulder directly, I'd hate to think what might have happened. I shook my left arm to try and get some feeling back into my shoulder. It worked somewhat, but it still felt tingly.

While I was doing so, I caught Hilda looking at me. Or more specifically, my now exposed chest. "Oooh. Somebody trains well don't they?" She said with a dark giggle. "I bet your stamina must be high"

I blushed despite myself and wished now that I'd just taken the hit to the shoulder and left my shirt on. "Damn it Hilda, why are you doing this?" I asked.

"Oh come on." She cooed. "I just want to have a little fun is all."

I narrowed my eyes at her and readied myself once again to fight. "Well, I don't!" I said declaratively.

She giggled at my bravado. "Zyeke…who said you had a choice?"

She charged at me again, right hand going straight for a right hook for my head. I wanted to move my left hand to block, but I couldn't make my shoulder react fast enough! I threw my head to the side, not moving my body at all, narrowly avoiding the punch. It landed on the hard stone with an audible thud, making it crack significantly. My eyes widened and I backed away as fast as I could from Hilda. She'd been holding back her real strength. And it was terrifying.

She moved right up with me, forcing me to block her blows, each block making my body shutter a little. But, she had slipped up when she showed me her true strength. I had an idea.

I moved to the back wall to the left of the enchantment table and taunted Hilda to come and get me. She responded with a smirk and charged at me again like she had before. She used another right hook, trying once again for my head, but I made sure to move it only at the last second. It worked and she slammed her fist against the stone harder than she had before, producing the exact result I wanted. The stone block popped away, leaving a cobblestone miniature in its place.

I went to snatch it and was successful, but I failed to dodge a second punch to the gut from shifting my focus. It was like being hit by a bulldozer! I fell to the ground, clutching my stomach, breathe coming out in short gasps. I don't know how I managed to keep my grip on the block, but I did. Only I felt as though I had crushed it, if that sounds possible, into the one thing that I needed to get out of here. Only, I couldn't move!

Hilda laughed at my defenseless position. "Oh my, don't tell me that was all? Can't take more than one measly punch?" She chuckled and grasped at my neck, lifting me up and shoving me against the wall. Hard. My head smacked against the cold stone, causing my vision to blur and my head to throb. I let out a pained shout. Hilda lessened her grip a little. "It seems that I've won." She said. "Now, let's…"

I didn't let her finish her sentence. In a last ditch effort, I placed my hands on the wall behind me and pushed off, slamming my forehead into hers. Believe it of not, there is a proper way to preform a head but to where you don't get injured that badly yourself. However, I wouldn't recommend doing it against a wall,nor in this case a princess, after receiving a head injury already. My head pounded with my heart beat, but Hilda did let go of me, falling to the floor due to my surprise attack.

Disoriented, but still determined, I rushed over to the wall and doubled checked that I was in front of the right block. I threw what was now a cobblestone button against the spot where the lever had been. I heard Hilda gasp and start to get up, but it was too late. I slammed my hand against the rough cobblestone surface and the book cases parted for a second. In that second, I dove out, the cases slamming back behind me with a thud. I knew I wasn't out of danger yet though.

Running on nothing more than my last reserves of adrenaline, I took off towards the library doors. By the time I reached the end of the book cases and the main section of the library, I held an angry yell and a loud crash from behind me. Hilda was out. That only prompted me to run faster.

I burst through the library doors, thanking God that they'd been left ajar. I don't think I would have had the strength to push them open. I ran down hallway after hallway, only half sure of where I was going. I could only pray that I was headed where I thought I was. And to top it all off, I could hear Hilda running behind me, trying to catch up. Except, her footsteps sounded much further back than my own and getting fainter the longer I ran. She may have been stronger, but I was faster.

I ran for what seemed like hours, but was probably only a minute or two. And mercifully, I had reached my destination, the front entrance. This was where I had to lose her. I could still hear her ever faint footsteps growing closer even now. Quickly, I decided to take the hallway straight in front of me and duck behind the corner of a pillar, out of sight from the main room.

Hilda's footsteps became louder and louder until I could tell that she'd made it into the front room. She stopped though, uncertain as to which way I'd gone. I stood in my corner, silently praying. Praying that she would go anywhere but straight. Please, God, anywhere but straight! I held my breathe and waited.

After nearly ten excruciating seconds, she decided to head upstairs, figuring I had gone back to my room. Once I heard the door slam, I breathed a sigh of relief and slumped to the floor. My head was pounding, my chest was heaving, and to be honest, I felt like total crap. But I had escaped. Right then, that was all that mattered to me.

"Oh there you are Zyeke!"

**Well. There's the next chapter. Hope you all enjoyed! Please remember to follow and favorite. And if you haven't already, please leave me a review to let me know how I'm doing and boost popularity for the story. Until next time.**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Aha! Now that's what I'm talking about!" Bryce exclaimed triumphantly. Carefully, he pulled his two pistols from off the enchanting table. The guns glowed in a purple hue of energy for a brief moment before fading away. He had just enchanted both of his pistols with punch two. That should certainly up a little bang into his buck, so to speak.

He'd been lucky to find this library when he did. Wandering the halls for hours on end got boring a lot quicker than he'd thought. Though, he did see some pretty cool sights on his walk. The castle design was amazing, and the real-life minecraft replicas of furniture and Earth items, spot on. Even so, he was very much relieved when he finally found this library. He'd been looking for a place to enchant his items and what better place to have an enchanting table than a library?

It took him a good ten minutes or so of searching before he finally found it. It had been straight ahead of him from the start! As he walked further along the book corridor though, he noticed things were a bit messy. Tattered books looked like the were blown right off their shelves, pages littered all over the floor near the entrance. There was a lever near the opening that led into the small enchanting room, but since the path was open, he'd didn't bother with it and just walked in.

A couple things were off about the room. The first being that drops of blood were randomly on display near the table and by the entrance. A quick glance behind him, showed that there were drops outside the entrance as well. He scolded himself for his lack of perception and examined the rest of the room. A few books were indeed de-shelved and now laid on the floor in crumpled position. A few pieces of paper had been torn from the books, but it didn't look to be deliberate. The final piece of evidence to confirm his suspicions was the tattered shirt that lay in the middle of the floor. There had definitely been a fight here recently.

He had picked up the shirt and upon studying it, he was a little surprised. It belonged to Zyeke! Damn. He hardly though he was the type of guy to go around pickin fights, but then, maybe he was attacked. Maybe he was injured and needed help. That had given him even more reason to enchant his weapons. He holstered his bb pistols and dashed out of the library.

He stopped at the door, looking for any sign as to where Zyeke might have run off to. Thankfully, Zyeke had left a trail behind him. The bad news was that the trail was marked in blood. The droplets didn't show up on the red carpet well unless you were really looking for then, but they stood out like beacons on the quartz floor. Bryce was about to run off in the direction of the trail, but a sudden thought stopped him. Why was he worrying about helping Zyeke at all? After all, they were competitors in these games. Helping his would be combatants seemed counter productive. Especially since Herobrine's twist he threw in with his visit.

From listening to their conversation in the restaurant before, his arrival in the world of minecraft was much different than his human counter parts. They had been forced, one way or another, to come to this world and compete in these games. His appearance had been absolutely voluntary. The others had been supposedly taken from their sleep or while they were unconscious. For him, it was different.

It wasn't like Herobrine's just suddenly poofed in his room one night and stole him away, no. When he came here, it was in the morning. He was at his house, having the day off from school. And being the minecraft fanatic he was, he decided he wanted to play for a little bit before really starting his day. So, he turned on his computer and was about to join one of his favorite servers, when they all just disappeared entirely. Just like that. He had tried refreshing the page,but it did no good and he was about to close the program and restart when something even more strange happened.

A new server with name 'Minecraft' appeared in rainbow text on his screen. Intrigued, he clicked on it and that's when things turned totally cool. His computer went black for a second, then it shot out a great beam of purple light, which attached itself to the ceiling and cascaded slowly down to the floor. It was mesmerizing at the time. Slowly, right before his very eyes, a sign pixilated itself into existence on his floor. It read 'Step into the light. Come prepared'. Bryce had enough sense to realize where this was going and he eagerly packed his belongings, including his pistols.

He left a note for his mom before going and jumped toward into the purple beam. Almost instantly, he was transported into a minecraft cavern, lit by red stone torches. He was so excited that he wasn't even scared of the sentimental being that stood before him, staring at him with white, soulless eyes. He was originally going to tell Bryce he had to compete in the games in order to get back home. But truthfully, he didn't really want to.

Earth was great and all, but living inside this game world had been a fantasy come true for him. There was no way he would leave it after a week, like some stupid vacation. Nah, he wanted to stay and unfortunately, he told that to Herobrine's. He was a bit taken aback by the news, but then just changed the rules, saying that he'd have to win to stay. And to win, sometimes you've gotta let someone else take the fall.

Bryce nearly slapped himself! What was he thinking? Zyeke was a good person, and even though they'd only briefly met, he felt like they were friends. Him, Zyeke, Ramirez, Sully, everyone. There was no way he was going to abandon any one of them. Besides, he knew enough about the game and read enough fan fiction to have a significant advantage over the others anyway. They'd just keep the games interesting.

With his mind made up, he took off in the direction of the blood trail, hoping that wherever he was, Zyeke was still ok.

"Oh, there you are Zyeke."

Immediately, I burst up from my seat, moving my hands up to defend myself, but I was too slow. I felt a fist slam into the side of my face, knocking me off balance. My head throbbed for only a second before it was replaced with a woozy feeling. My whole world spun and I soon found myself on the ground, staff bouncing away from me.

Hilda's swirling figure smirked as she edged slowly closer. I tried to get up, but the lightheaded ness hadn't subsided from my brain. I slumped back down to the ground, but still attempted to crawl away from my assailant. She found this funny and took a pause to let out a small, dark chuckle.

"Oh please, Zyeke. You've lost. You've been beaten." She walked over to me, grabbing what little hair I had and lifting up. I groaned in pain as she lifted my ear to her mouth. "I am victorious and I shall do as I please with my pri…"

She was cut off violently as I heard a small popping sound and felt something small whiz past my face. She gasped in pain, letting my hair go. I dropped to the ground again, gritting my teeth against the pain in my scalp. Looking back at Hilda, she was holding her left cheek in a mixture of shock, anger, and pain. Red blood slithered down her cheek in a slow, but steady flow. She was seething! She glared behind me at my savior.

"Sup Zyeke!" I heard a familiar, slightly cocky, voice say from behind me. "Thought you could use a hand."

My head had cleared enough to register Bryce voice. Quickly, while Hilda was distracted, I dove for my staff by the far wall. Hilda saw me grab it and hurled another one of her whither spells at me. I swung my staff against it, deflecting it away by the end. I stood up and raised my weapon against her for the first time. At this point I had no choice. I still felt weak from her last attack, but I couldn't let that show. I put on a hard war face and sneered at Hilda. Bryce was next to me in a flash, raising both pistols against her, making a menacing cocking sound. Hilda looked from Bryce to me several times and for a moment, no one moved. Then, she turned, and ran off down the hall. Two against one wasn't in her favor apparently.

I waited until she turned the corner and her footsteps receded far enough away that I couldn't hear them before dropping my guard. I knelt down to a knee, utterly exhausted from the previous battle, running for my life, and a further beatdown shortly afterwards. Thank God Bruce came when he did. I didn't want to think about what might have happened if he hadn't showed up.

My head became dizzy again and my vision blurred. I staggered on my knees until I found the reassurance of the back wall. Bryce looked me up and down, concerned.

"Damn dude, you look like you got the shit kicked out of you." He said in an only slightly teasing tone. I could sense the hidden careness behind it though and I chuckled, despite myself.

I couldn't disagree with him though. I felt a smear of red liquid covering the right side of my head, some of it slowly continuing down to my shirt, which felt wetter than it had. My head felt like throbbing and throwing up at the same time, along with my stomach also being queasy. Yeah, I bet I didn't look my best at the moment.

"Thanks a ton." I laughed, in half a joking response to his bad jeer and half seriousness for his help. "Couldn't have come a little sooner though?"

He chuckled. "Sorry man. Didn't think you were in trouble till I finally found that enchanting room." He knelt down and sat beside me. "What the hell happened man?"

I told him about my plan to construct the weapon which now rested at my side. Finding the iron golem forge seemed to interest him and he asked me to show him that later. I told him about my long search for that damn enchantment table and running into Hilda. She had directed me to that room, but blindsided me with a surprise attack. My near escape intrigued him and he commented on my quick thinking. The rest, he knew.

He whistled. "Wrong place, wrong time I guess. Sorry man. Wish I'd gotten there sooner."

"It's fine. I see you upgraded those pistols though. They sure do pack a punch now huh?" I said with a smile. He burst out laughing at that. I didn't really understand why, but it was too contagious not to join in.

"Hah, yeah. Did you enchant yours too?" He asked, pointing towards my staff.

I pulled it closer to me, picking it up and setting it on my lap. It was quite long, almost as much as me. "Yeah, the golems did a real nice job forging this for me. Obsidian is the hardest substance I know in this world. It should give me an advantage over the princesses, though I enchanted it with Power V just in case."

"Wicked." He said, examining my weapon of choice. His eyes rested upon the diamond mechanism meant to separate the two poles. "Hey, what's this do?" He asked, reaching to press the shiny button.

I grabbed his hand as fast as I could. Half because I was worried about the mechanism and half because I didn't want him to know about its purpose just yet. "Just something I added to the staff man. The golems superheated a diamond blocked and chipped this out for me. But, after being superheated and cooled, it needs time to re-harden. Right now it's probably a bit more brittle than normal. I don't want the golem's work to go to waste." I said, releasing his hand.

"Ah, right…" He said, not totally convinced. He looks at my injuries once again and once again, giving me a concerned look. "Dude, seriously, don't you think you should get those che…"

He was cut off by a loud worried voice. "Zyeke! Oh my gosh!"

Bruce fingered his pistols and my grip tightened against my staff, though I wasn't completely sure I could fight. I turned my head in anticipation for another enemy. Instead, I saw a worried looking girl rushing up to me in a very familiar creeper hoodie. Cupa practically sprinted over to me and knelt down to examine my face. She looked absolutely mortified! Did I really look that bad?

"Hey Cupa." I said, trying to ease the anxious girl's nervous state. "How's it hang…" I stopped suddenly, a sudden bulge traveling from my throat up to my throat. I turned over and cough violently, each convulsion sending shudders and pain throughout my body. My coughs threw up a substance that I would have rather not seen. A vile black substance mixed with blood was spat across the white tile floor. Ugh, was that what Hilda's whither magic looked like? Gross.

My coughing fit didn't last long, thankfully, but my two companions stared at me, now both faces filled with worry. I wiped the blood from my lips and attempted to stand. I got almost all the way up before my knees buckled and I was sent spiraling towards Cupa. She was quick in her reflexes though and caught me by my shoulder, causing me to wince slightly.

"Agh. Sorry." I muttered. "Maybe I do need some help." I said with a joking smile.

Cupa shifted her body position so that I could use her as a crutch by her shoulder. "We need to get to Melinda!" She said franticly. "She'll be able to help you."

"By all means, lead the way." I said, still smiling stupidly. I think some of Hilda's magic was starting to effect my brain. I felt kind of...drugged up. As if a bunch of doctors had given me too much medication to numb my pain. In fact, I could hardly feel my limbs as I forced them forward to follow Cupa's steps. My vision started to blur up again, worse this time. I struggled to keep them open and stay conscious, but the strain was too great for me to bear. I felt myself tumbled forward once again, but I didn't remember hitting the ground.

Ethan was in his room, bent over a table. He had since acquired a book and quill from the chest by his bed and had already begun drawing up schematics for the one thing he did best. Traps. As a player, Ethan loved nothing more than to play with redstone and minecraft's mechanical features. He'd made countless systematic machines that included a sorting system for all his materials he'd gain in the game, requiring him only to dump whatever he had on him into a chest. The rest of his system would take each item, figure out what the item was, and place it in his labeled chest.

That wasn't all though. He'd constructed a fully automated defense system around his house that would automatically sprout forth dispensers that would fire an arrow rain against unsuspecting mobs who wandered too close. An automatic farm that would break all his crops and replant it for him was interesting and very difficult to build, but he had also accomplished that in his gaming experience.

It was quiet in the room, the perfect atmosphere for thinking. Nobody bothered him as he worked on the schematics for his newest minecraft creation he would attempt to assimilate. It would certainly help his team out tactically if he could manage it and possibly serve a purpose in combat. But the latter would have to come later.

After another ten minutes or so, when he had finished his makeshift blueprint, he laid the nearly dried out quill next to the ink bottle on the table. He wiped the sweat from his brow, admiring his newest addition to his file of inventions. It hadn't even taken him that long really, just about half an hour to get every detail down. He had become exceeding quick in his years of engineering.

Ethan wasn't really much of an outdoorsy type of person. He always preferred the sanctity and knowledge of books than the physical strain of sports. Most of the time, he spent his time in his room either brushing up on some engineering concept for trapmaking or appliance functionality or playing minecraft on his computer. He supposed this might seem like a secluded lifestyle to others, but he still had friends, of course. Most of them were online players, but they still counted right?

His sister, Katrina, had always tried to get him to go out more and interact with people face to face, rather than on the other side of a computer. And he would go along with her at times, interacting with her friends, who were always pleasant with him, but nothing more. He honestly preferred it that way, since most of her sister's friends were, well, girls. Pleasant, easy conversation made it easier to talk to them. Anything more would cause him to choke up. He knew. It had happened before.

Perhaps he wouldn't be so shy if he really did make an effort to spend more time around people, but for the most part, he had no real incentive to. The kids at his school wouldn't bully him openly, on account of his protective sister, but that didn't stop the subtle glares he'd get, the occasional note left on his locker, or missing textbook that would magically show up later after a class. He knew not all people were like that, but he really had a difficult time trusting others enough to really have a good conversation with them. In fact, the only people he could recall that he could talk to like that were his parents, his sister, and his online friends, but he had a sinking feeling that they didn't count.

He shook his head, trying instead to focus back on his drawing and a way to bring it to life. But even as he tried, his thoughts shifted to his current situation. He was inside a game he'd played for a long time, inside a castle filled to the brim with staff and very…beautiful girls, and a contestant in a new kind of game he didn't really understand. It was kind of nerve racking, particularly because he had a hard enough time talking to girls, especially the pretty ones. Katrina's friends had been an added exception.

He sighed. He knew most guys his age would have killed to be in his position right now. They probably would have had no trouble flirting with the various princess mobs and becoming well acquainted with his human comrades. But him, he preferred the solitude of his room, the one barrier that separated him from the rest of the world. He knew it wouldn't last forever though.

As if on cue, there was a knock at his door. He got up from the wooden chair he was sitting at and eyed the door nervously. Was it his sister coming to check up on him? One of his teammates coming to discuss some sort of strategy for the upcoming event. Or worse, a princess who might have just come to talk! His mind was racing as he approached the door, still debating whether or not to open it.

The decision was made for him, however, as the door opened to reveal his sister, still dressed in the clothes they'd arrived in. He breathed a sigh of relief, while his sister just sighed.

"Figures I'd find you holed up in your room." She said in that slightly disappointed, yet concerned sisterly voice she always had when finding that he hadn't left his room in a couple hours. "Come on! Why don't you come out and be social, like a normal human being?" She said with a teasing poke at his ribs.

"Hey!" He said with surprise, backing away from his sister's finger. "Give me a break sis! I've been working on a way to improve our chances of winning and getting us back home for the past hour." Although, that wasn't exactly true. He'd spent a good portion of his time making more potions and meandering about as well. "What have you been doing?" He countered, pointing an accusing finger at his sister.

She smiled. "Getting to know my awesome teammates. They're really cool, ya know? I'm sure even you'd hit it off with them if you bothered to talk to em." She lifted a finger to her chin in thought. "Though I would consider avoiding Rot. He seems a little too grumpy."

Ethan mentally shook his head. This was just like his sister. She was always the more social one, making lots of friends at school and being a general happy-go-lucky kind of person. Apparently, there was no exception here. He briefly wondered if she really understood the weight of their current situation, but pushed the thought away stupidly. His sister may be carefree, but she wasn't an idiot. He wondered if maybe she was distracting herself from it by trying to be friendly with everyone.

"Well, come on! Get out of your room for a bit then Einstein. You've been working hard on your project, whatever it is, for too long. It's time for a break!" She said energetically.

Before he could protest, she grabbed his arm and practically pulled him away from his quiet sanctuary and dragged him through the halls. He sent out a little prayer that he would be struck down upon meeting these girls because it would be so much easier than trying to talk with them!

**Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed the new chapter! I am doing my best to get these out on a somewhat consistent basis. I am a little disappointed on the lack of interest on my other story, but I suppose everyone has their preference. Anyway, I'll post another one as soon as I can, but I have something else to discuss with you all. I was reading other stories when I came across one that supposedly had fan art made for it. Now, I don't really want to come across as manipulative, but…perhaps a cool cover picture for this story might get more people interested in it. I'm ok at drawing myself, but I'm willing to let others give it a shot as well. Any artists who'd like to give it a shot, I'd greatly appreciate it and give you credit in the next chapter or so. Plus ya know, it would be really awesome anyway to see art based on my story, but I digress. I'll work on my own and see if I can't produce something, but like I said, any awesome artists willing to wow a bunch of people they don't know, PM me your drawing if you'd like XD. Don't forget to follow/favorite if you haven't already and please don't forget to leave me a review and let me know how I'm doing. Until next time!**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

My eyes slowly drifted open. My surroundings were unfamiliar to me. I was in a room, but not the one I'd been assigned to for the games. This room was…very different. The walls were made from stone with strange symbols carved into each brick, much like what I saw in the enchanting room. Though, these symbols did not glow or detach themselves from the wall to float towards another table. The wall I was facing housed a window with translucent purple curtains draped over the glass. A small table was next to the bed I was laying on. Strange, I hadn't recalled going to sleep.

I turned my head to examine more of the room and was met with even more oddities. In the center of the carpeted floor, there seemed to have been a spot where it had been ripped up, revealing the gray stone underneath. On this square of exposed floor were circles and runes displayed in a mystifying fashion. A diamond shape was overlaid over everything and looked to have been carved straight into the stone. It intrigued me a little until I figured out what it represented. Magic.

Frantically, I looked around some more, spotting many brewing stands, potions already in their slots. A small poof of smoke would arise from the blaze rod portion of the device and the potions were bubbling inside their glasses. Near that was a big, black cauldron that sat underneath a fire pit. From what I could tell though, nothing was cooking. The rest of the room was pretty normal, chests and furniture arranged to the occupant's liking.

A creepy feeling started crawling up my spine and I quickly realized that I didn't want o be here anymore. All of these foreign, magical arts were making me very uneasy. I attempted to get

up. "Agh!" I grunted. My head throbbed uncontrollably and I raised a hand to my head. It was bandaged. "What…" I muttered to myself. "When did I…"

It all came flooding back in an instant. Enchanting my weapon, fighting with Hilda, running, fighting again, losing, Bryce, injuries, head. Agh! Just remembering everything caused my head to throb even more. I looked myself over for any more injuries, only to discover none, which provided a small sliver of relief.

I was about to attempt to get out of bed when I heard footsteps from outside. The doorknob jiggled and Melinda came in carrying a handful of potion ingredients. She nearly dropped them though when she saw that I was awake. We both kind of froze there for a second, not really knowing what to say. I instinct told me to ask what the heck happened to me after I blacked out, but my brain told me to be careful, as I remembered how shy Melinda had acted towards me earlier.

I was about to say hi when another form burst into the room. "Melinda, what are you doing standing…Zyeke! You're awake!"

Before I could even brace myself for impact, Cupa ran towards the bed and practically threw herself on me. I gasped in surprise and a little pain, as Cupa's wrapped her arms around me, dragging me down to the bed in a tight bear hug. Man, she knew how to squeeze!

"Oh my gosh Zyeke, I'm so glad you're ok!" She exclaimed tightening her grip.

I could hardly breathe. "Cu…pa…that…hurts."I managed to get out.

She broke off immediately, her expression changing to apologetic. "Sorry." She said.

She sat across from me on the bed. Melinda had moved on to the brewing stands, removing the previous potions and storing them inside a chest nearby. She placed a new round of glass bottles inside the slots and started the potion making process. I was more than familiar with it, but I was wary of using them.

"Zyeke…" Cupa started, "What happened?" She asked, gesturing to my bandages.

I sighed. I explained everything to her that I had to Bryce. Bryce…where was he? He'd helped me scare away Hilda, but where had he gone after his blackout? "Hey, Cupa, what exactly happened after I blacked out?" Another thought occurred to me. "How long have I been out?"

"Well, after you passed out, Bryce helped me carry you through the entrance hall and up the stairs. You actually half woke up as we neared the top of the stairs. You started moving and we nearly dropped you down the stairs. You started muttering a bunch of nonsense before going limp again. Once we got you here, Bryce kind of just left when we got you situated on the bed. Since then, Melinda and I were gathering ingredients to make a few healing potions for you." Cupa explained. "You were out for a couple hours."

Two hours? Damn. I hardly felt like I put up much of a fight and…two hours? What would happen if I really had to go all out…and lost? I pushed those thoughts away. Negative thinking would get me nowhere. "Man." I rubbed the back of my neck. "She got me pretty good." I said with chuckle.

I swung my legs over the bed and stood on my feet once again. They felt stiff, but I could walk on them again. I took a couple steps. I didn't fall. Well, that was certainly a plus. The aches from my stomach and head though, not so much. I reached up and undid my bandages, running my hand over it to feel for any external injuries. Other than small bump, I didn't feel anything too serious. Most of the damage had come from magic, not from physical interactions. That was a bit of a relief at least, not to say it wasn't substantial though. I turned to Cupa and Melinda, about to thank them for helping me when a loud gurgling noise escape from my stomach.

Everyone burst out laughing, even Melinda looked like she was chuckling over by the stands. I guess being knocked unconscious works up an appetite. "You guys wouldn't happen to have any food up here, would you?" I asked.

Cupa shook her head. "No, but I know where we can get some. This castle has a great cook!" She exclaimed before hopping off the bed. She walked up to me, her expression turning to a serious one. "Are you sure you're alright? You took a heavy beating and even we have trouble against Hilda's whither magic."

She wasn't wrong. A lot of my actions were nothing more than bravado and willpower right now. I still felt a little tingly and weird in my head as well as the aches from my beat down, but I didn't want to worry either one of them. "I'll be alright." I said truthfully. "I'll just need to be more careful next time." Cupa smiled. She seemed satisfied with that answer.

"Zyeke…" Melinda said, approaching Cupa and I. "Here…take this…" She held out a potion of healing to me. "I…made it…specially. It should…take effect quicker." She said softly.

I watched her hold the potion out to me, debating whether or not to take it. I know from reading the bible that magic is bad, though I suppose I already broke that rule with the enchanted weapon I made. Even so, I was still a little unsure, considering that those guidelines were written for earth and we were in minecraft. On earth, magic was a tool granted by demons. But, there were never demons present in minecraft…right? Agh! Thinking about it made my head throb.

I reached out and took the potion from her. "Thank you Melinda." I said, putting the glass bottle in my pocket. She moved her hands back to her sides, nervously clutching her right arm. I think I caught a muttered 'your welcome' from her, but it was so quiet, it could have been anything. I wanted to do something to let her know that she didn't have to be shy of me, for whatever reason that was driving her to do so, but I couldn't think of anything without making it awkward. Maybe if I was just around her more often, she would get comfortable enough to not be so shy.

"Well, what are we all standing around for? Let's go eat!" Cupa said, grabbing hold of me and practically dragging me out of the room, Melinda in hot pursuit. Man, I wonder how she deals with Cupa's energetic nature versus her own conceded one.

They led me to another restaurant style room that resembled the first meeting place where we gathered before. Tables and chairs made from wood, bar area up at the front, kitchen behind that. Glowstone provided lighting. Interestingly enough though, we weren't the first ones there. In fact, we appeared to be the last. Every other competitor must have been either sitting at a table, at the bar, or just wandering.

We chose a booth about mid-way between the bar and the entrance, near the others, but far enough away that we wouldn't need to talk to them. Upon further observation, I noticed that nearly every group was separated into about four or five people. They were all spaced out, and if I had to guess, some were sitting with their teammates. One would get up and move to another group every so often, sitting or standing and joining in on the conversation. I smiled. They certainly seemed comfortable with each other, the other mob royalty. I even spotted my other human competitors at certain tables.

We were waited on not long after sitting, the skeleton staff waitress handing us each a book, to which I almost laughed at. I had almost expected actual menus, but I suppose you can't have it all in minecraft. I flipped through the pages, desperately hoping to find a cheeseburger with fries, but alas, it was not to be. They only items they had were those native to minecraft. Shoot.

Cupa ended up ordering a steak with carrots and a baked potato. Melinda had to expect her order twice before the waitress heard her. So, I guess her shyness didn't only stop at me. I didn't know whether to feel even more concerned for the nervous witch or relieved that it wasn't just me. She ordered chicken legs and wings with some carrots. When the waitress got to me, I ordered a chicken breast and legs, pork chop, carrots, baked potato, and some cookies. Hey, I hadn't eaten since lunch!

"Geez, why don't you order the whole book!" Cupa teased. "Ya fatty."

I chuckled. My brother used to say the same thing. "Pch. I may be fat, but I'll be happy too!" I joked back.

They laughed and I figured now would be as good a time as any to learn a little more about my teammates. "So, what's you guys' story? You know how I got here, but where do you guys come from?" I asked curiously.

Melinda tensed up a little after I'd asked. Cupa noticed and quickly began talking about her home, the Creeper kingdom. Apparently, it was one of the more prosperous ones in the Overworld, much like this one. They lived in a great meadow biome, where the grasslands expanded for as far as the eye could see. She lived in the kingdom's castle, naturally, with her little brother and father. I found it interesting that she had a little brother. I wonder if their succession laws were anything like ours on Earth. She continued to tell me more and I listened attentively, but I already caught on that she was only going on to keep Melinda from having to answer too. It only made me want to know about her past even more, but it must have been traumatic if she couldn't openly talk about it.

The food arrived surprisingly quick and we all dug right in. Oh my gosh, let me tell you, Cupa was not lying when she said the cook was good. Not good, awesome! The pork and chicken had been baked to perfection, nice and moist on the inside, but baked brown on the outside. Delicious. From the first bite, I almost wanted to dig right into the meat, but realized I was still in the presence of company, royalty at that. So, I behaved accordingly, as excruciating as it was. I took small, slow bites.

"Hey Zyeke, why don't you tell us a little about Earth." Cupa somewhat asked.

Oh man, where do I begin? I started off by telling them that Earth was a very long ways from here. I then started to tell that not everything in Earth was a block. There were different shapes and sizes to everything. This seemed to blow their minds. I'm not kidding; they gave me this dumbfounded look and prompted me to keep going. I started explaining that food didn't grow as quickly as it did here and that there were many other different types of food and food styles. I described animals from earth like deer, rabbits, squirrels, etc. After I had gotten the basics of nature done I was about to tell them about electricity and technology.

"Excuse me, may I sit down?" I heard a voice behind me ask.

I nearly jumped out of my seat as I turned around to see Andr, the princess of the endermen, standing right next to me. I hadn't even heard her approach. I must have really been into describing my home. "Of course, your highness." I said, scooting over to make room for her.

She chuckled at my formality. "Please, call me Andr. We're all pretty much equals here, are we not?" She sat down in the space I had provided. I noticed a slight aura of purple particles that would flow around her every so often. Interesting. She was dressed in a tight black sweater with long, slick black pants..

"I suppose so." I chuckled, "It's nice to meet you Andr."

"Zyeke!" Cupa exclaimed anxiously, "You were just telling us about 'electricity'!"

I laughed at Cupa's enthusiasm and continued on with describing Earth. I tried to relate electricity to the redstone material they used here. They seemed to understand the comparison and differences I described, all nodding their heads when I'd ask if something made since or not. Andr seemed to almost compete with Cupa in how interested she was trying to look, always holding a steady smile and giggling when I made some lame joke, which I was known for a lot back home.

However, whenever they would giggle simultaneously or make any sort of eye contact, there was a distinct heaviness in the air between them. Whenever they spoke to each other, it was in a measured tone, from both of them. I was a little shocked to see that kind of change in Cupa's personality, but threes exchanges only lasted for a couple seconds and weren't really noticing everyone unless you were looking for them. Still, I wondered why they were treating each other this way, but I looked past it for the most part and just continued on with the conversation as best I could.

Eventually, it grew later and later. Even though a glance at my watch only told me it was around eight in Earth time, I felt exhausted. So, I said goodnight to each of the princesses and excused myself from the table. A short walk took me back to the main entrance area, but I held off on going upstairs for a minute. I glanced at the darkness of the courtyard outside, lit only by a faint glow of torch light. I walked out there to look out of the big hole in the cavern, showing a beautiful night sky. Even when the stars are square, their twinkle and majestic beauty were not lost, nor was the light of the full moon behind them.

"Enjoying yourself?" A deep and low voice said a couple feet away. I recognized the voice immediately and shook away the fear that had started to well up in my stomach. "What do you want Herobrine?" I asked, seemingly disinterested, not looking away fro the sky.

He chuckled at my faked indifference. "Oh nothing, just wandering how you were getting along." He paused and chuckled. "How long you'll last."

I tore my gaze away from the sky and focused on Herobrine's soulless eyes. I stared angrily into those unemotional eyes, determined to stand up against this evil entity. "Oh, I'll last all right. In fact, I'll do more than that. I'll win!" I nearly shouted at the ghostly figure.

He only chuckled deeper, sending a small shiver up my spine. "Well then Zyeke, I hope you do." He chuckled the same way once again. "Good luck." He said with a mischievous smile. Then, I he was gone, just like that. Poof.

Honestly, I was too tired to care or even think about why he decided to show himself. I was going to win these dang games and get home if it killed me. Which, in all likelihood, it more than had the capability to. I shook my head and began the short walk back the the entrance halls and up the red carpeted stairs. I opened the door to the hallway with all the rooms for the competitors. It was deserted. I shuffled over to my room number, my exhaustion really starting to take effect now. I slowly reach for the doorknob and turned it. I opened the door and closed it behind me, already making my way towards the comfy bed that awaited me. Only, it wasn't unoccupied.

I blinked as I saw a flash of light yellow nightgown and a whisp of auburn hair that came down way past the shoulder. Then, it was gone. I was about to chalk up the strange occurrence up to a hallucination or a trick of the light that my tired brain made into a form when it appeared again. This time, I was able to identify it. And this time, it was twin inches away from me. I jumped back in surprise, my brain and senses snapping instantly alert.

"Geez Andr! Don't scare me like that!" I said, thoroughly startled. I did a quick look around the room. It looked exactly as it had when I first arrived, so I hadn't walked into the wrong room by accident. "What are you doing here?"

Andr smiled.. "Just thought I'd pop in." She said. "Is that ok?"

I thought about it for a second. "Well, I mean, I would rather my visitors use the door, but honestly, I feel a bit tired. I'd be more than happy to talk with you, but I don't know that I could stay awake for very long." I said with a chuckle.

She started walking towards me, slowly, still holding that smile. Only it looked more…coy. "Well...I think I know a way we could fix that."

I started backing away from her, beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable. With each step she took forward, I made sure to take one back. This was not at all like the Andr I had witnessed before at dinner. Had she been flirting with me or something at dinner? I didn't think so. What was prompting this sort of action? It seemed out of place…and frightening.

Suddenly, I ran out of room, my back hitting the stone wall. Crap! How had I made such a stupid mistake? It was too late move. Andr was too close for me get away without hitting her. She seemed to realize this and took one last step to close the distance between her and me, her face coming ever so close…

Faster than I thought possible, my hands snapped up and caught her shoulders a couple inches away from me. I pushed her back gently, releasing a breathe I hadn't even realized I was holding. "Andr, what are you doing?" I asked, looking down at the floor.

"I thought it was pretty obvious." She said, pressing against my hands, but I held firm. Her expression faltered slightly. "What's wrong?"

I looked her straight in the eye, searching for a reason to this. What I saw was not tenderness or love. No, behind her false expression of softness, I glimpse a want. A want that expressed nothing more than desire. A burning, lustful, desire. "You don't really want me. Not truly." I said. Her entire face dropped, but not in sadness. It dropped in the way you'd imagine a kid's would once his mom found out he had fibbed right to her face. "And that proves it."

Now it was her turn to look down at the floor. "So, you noticed…no matter." Her gaze flicked right back up to mine. I gasped. Her eyes had turned a dark shade of purple, rage and intensity radiating outwards like a steady stream of heat. "I will make you mine!"

The purple energy that always radiated around her began to glow brighter. Instantly, I pushed her away from me and bolted towards the door. I got as far as getting it open before she suddenly appeared in front of me. Before I could react, she grabbed my arm and threw me out into the hallway. I landed hard against the stone wall, air rushing out of me. Damn! She was a lot stronger than she looked.

Recovering, I jumped to my feet and took a fighting stance, waiting for her to attack again. She rushed towards me, throwing a punch. It was aimed for my head. I turned my head and felt the air drag past my face. Not hesitating in the slightest, she threw another one at my stomach, which I managed to catch right before impact. I crouched down lower, repositioning my hold on her arm simultaneous and pulled. Unprepared, she stumbled towards me, her face dawning a shocked expression. Regretting having to fight, yet aware of the dangers of defeat, I pulled back my other arm and slammed my palm against her stomach.

I winced. Fresh pain sparked from my palm and traveled all the way up to my mid-arm. I grunted and jumped back a couple steps, clutching my hand. It was like hitting solid concrete! However, a glance over at Andr showed me that my attack had at least been somewhat effective, as she was hunched over for a second before straightening up. What scared me though, was the smirk and cocky look on her face.

"Impressive. I hadn't expected you to really be able to hurt me. You're stronger than you look Zyeke." She said.

"I could say the same for you." I grunted, shaking away the pain in my hand.

"Indeed." She responded. "But you're not dealing with just some normal ender human mob. You're dealing with the daughter of the great and powerful _enderdragon!_" She shouted

She thrust her hand forward, purple flames bursting from her hands in a narrow, firery beam. My eyes widened and I jumped to the side to avoid the deadly looking projectile. Then I heard something. It was barely audible, but I heard the very distinctive _woop_ sound of an endermen teleporting, or more precisely, and ender girl. It came from behind me! I turned around as quick as I could, attempting to block whatever attack she had waiting for me, but she was already finished. I felt hard knuckles slam into my chest, knocking me back onto the ground.

My stomach did a flip flop as I landed. I couldn't breathe for a few seconds. My mouth was open and trying desperately to breath, like a fish freshly thrown out of water. It wasn't until the third try that a I let out a loud gasp as I sputtered and coughed from the sudden influx of air and pain. I heard Andr laugh from across the hall.

"My, but your endurance seems to be lacking. We'll have to fix that, now won't we?" She said with a dark giggle. "After all, I can't have my new boyfriend be weak."

_Boyfriend?_ Was this girl crazy? I didn't even know her! Not only that, but she was kicking my ass! What the hell made her think I would agree to being _anything_ with her now? I slammed a fist into the ground and pushed myself to my feet. Something told me that a loss now would bring prolonged suffering later, and I didn't just mean from my wounds. Like hell if I was going to lose to her. No more holding back!

Adrenaline flooded my system and numbed the pain in my chest. Renewed energy flowed into my legs and arms and I burst forward. Andr raised an eyebrow at my charge as I readied a punch. When I threw it, Andr disappeared right before I could touch her, but I expected as much. Perking my ears, I kept my position and waited. Not a second later, I heard the distinct _woop _come from the side. I ducked down, avoiding the punch, Andr had intended for me, twisted, and slammed my elbow directly into her side. I heard her cry out and that gave me all the encouragement I needed.

Knowing that this was the only chance I was going to get to end it, I followed through and came full circle, landing a left hook across her jaw. While she recovered, with the same hand, I made a small loop to keep my momentum, and converted it into a knife hand strike at her throat. She gasped, suddenly cut short of air. Lowering myself down into a horse stance, I Moved forward against Andr, spinning my hands in a clockwise motion, knuckles ramming repeatedly into her stone wall stomach. I kept at it until even when my hands hurt with every blow and my knuckles started to bleed. Every hit was chink in her armor, every hit was a small step towards victory.

I yelled and increased the frequency of my hits until my knuckles felt like they would burst. That was when I made my last move. I pulled back for a second, twirling only my upper body, channeling my adrenaline and body energy into my palms and with all the momentum I could muster, smacked then directly into the same spot I was hitting before. That was it. She let out a loud grunt before falling to the floor with an audible thud.

My arms fell limp at my sides. I stood over Andr, panting and exhausted beyond belief, but it was over. I had won! New hope and inspiration filled my being. It was possible to breath these girls. It was possible to win these…

Andr suddenly teleported and was in front of me in a flash. Before I could throw up any kind of defense, she nailed me across the face, throwing me to the ground. My adrenaline was all but empty and the pain knocked into me harder than a cement block. But it didn't stop there. Moments after I hit the ground, I found myself flying again as Andr picked me up and threw me by my shirt only to teleport and send another punch to my gut. I hit the floor with a thud and honestly, lost my dinner.

As I sat on all fours, heaving, I heard Andr breathing heavily, each breathe coming out short and ragged. "Did you really…think you could beat…me?" She rasped out "I am…the daughter of the great and powerful enderdragon." She said, regaining her breathe. "I will not lose to someone like you. You are human and are weaker!"

I sputtered out a laugh, clutching my stomach in pain. "Then…why…were you…so…exhausted?" I said between ragged breaths and a weak smile.

Her eyes seethed with rage and she teleported in front of me once again, delivering a deist acting uppercut to my chin. I was actually lifted up off the ground, but my pain was minimal. My eyes were slowly shading over and I felt myself smile as the familiar darkness swallowed me once again.

**Hey guys. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and guess what! We got fan art. Granted, I made it and it now serves as the cover picture of the story and it took me only about an hour to do, but I wanted to get something up. Anyone who does better, I will gladly give them credit and post their picture in my place. I'do love to have a new one up every week or so, that would be cool! So please, awesome artists, please give it a shot! Draw a picture of a character or scene that you like, PM me and I will share an address made specifically for this story. Also, thank you to the one Guest who reviewed for my last chapter and motivating me to make this a good one. Shoutout to you my friend! Don't forget to follow and favorite and please review so others can read, enjoy, and post their own comments! Until next time!**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Normally, I'd expect to feel like complete crap after waking from the beating I had. But, strangely, I felt better than ever before. When I opened my eyes, I did find myself in another room, my guess being that it was Andr's due to the endstone that covered much of the floor, only being disrupted by a few carpets and furniture. The ceiling actually looked like the dark night sky of the end and I don't know how she managed it, but she had also constructed a little obsidian tower. No place like home, I guess.

I felt something move in the bed next to me. It was only then that I realized I had arms wrapped around my waist. I was gently pulled closer to Andr, who's steady breathing collided against the back of my neck. It sent a small shiver down my spine. Her breathe was cold, but she didn't snore. Despite remembering last night's festivities, I gently unhooked her hands from around my waste, not wanting to wake her. She stirred, but didn't wake.

It may sound weird, but I wasn't really angry with her. Maybe that was because I didn't feel like a globbed over bruise. I headed for the door to get out of there, but quickly realized there wasn't one. Great. Why would she need the door anyway? She was an enderwomen after all. I sighed. There was no other choice now than to get her up.

"Good morning." I heard a groggy voice mumble from behind me.

Well, guess I didn't have to worry about that anymore. "Good morning." I replied back politely. Even though I spoke at ease, my body was ready to move at any sign of attack.

She popped off her bed and was in front of her dress in an instant. Man, that must be nice. Getting out of bed early in the morning was always the hardest part. I kind of felt a little envious towards my amber haired kidnapper. Without hesitating or saying another word, she pulled out a clean set of the outfit she had worn last night and began to shed her nightgown.

My face turned red and I turned around as fast as I could. "Jeez! A little warning would have been nice, ya know."

"What, scared to watch?" She said teasingly as I heard her put on her clothes.

"Some of us don't want to." I muttered under my breathe.

Once she was fully clothed, I turned around. I kind of stared at her for a minute, expecting her to say something about what happened last night, but she remained silent. Suddenly, she popped out of the room. I looked at where she was standing before, a little dumbfounded. What the heck? Why did she leave me here? Was this some kind of attempt at sabotage to my team for the event…or did she just enjoy holding me captive? Now I was getting a little steamed.

I was about to look around for something to bust down the damn wall when she popped back in the room exactly where she'd been standing before. She was holding a change of clothes. I also spied a tray food balanced between her left hand and her shoulder. Just like that, my stomach growled. I really hated that thing sometimes.

She chuckled. "Here. You might want these." She said tossing the clothes at me. "we can eat after you change."

I caught the clothes and stared questioningly at her. Why was she being…nice all of a sudden? Did this girl have a split personality or something? Seriously, I was having a hard time wrapping my head around the concept. Only last night, she beat the living hell out of me and now she was bringing me food and fresh clothes? Not that I'm complaining, but what in the actually heck?

"Thanks…" I said uncertainly. I took hold of the pants, a plain set of blue wool apparel, and waited for her to turn her back. She kept looking at me. I cleared my throat loudly, hoping she would get the hint. Her expression didn't change. I sighed heavily. "Andr, will you please look away?"

"Why?" She asked.

I stared wide-eyed at her. "Because…I…It's only…Agh!" I threw the pants up in frustration. "Forget it." I said dismissively.

I walked away from her, inspecting the walls which looked to have been painted with the minecraft End surroundings. It was actually depicted quite well. Endermen stood in the distance, some mid-stride, others at a standstill. More towers gleamed in the distance, ender crystals ablaze at their tops. You could even catch a glimpse of the fable enderdragon in the distance.

I half wished I was in the End to be honest. At least a chance at killing the enderdragon would have left me with a way out. Here, I was completely at Andr's mercy. Not the most welcoming of thoughts.

I heard her approach from behind me. When I turned, she offered the clothes to me again. "Alright. I'll turn around." She said half annoyed, but half serious as well. So, at least she wasn't completely irrational. I took the clothes from her and true to her word, she turned her back to me.

I slipped into my new pants quickly, still feeling kind of awkward in the presence of a girl. I was changed in less than a minute and I had to admit, it felt good to be in a new set of clean clothes. Torn pants and a shirt with dried blood isn't exactly a very comfortable outfit. She seemed to know when I finished because after I threw my shirt on, she grabbed the food tray. On it was a helping of bread, milk, and chicken. Enough for two.

We ate in silence.

After we finished, I couldn't take it anymore. I had to know what the heck was going on with her. "Andr…what happened? Last night…you kicked the living crap out of me. And now…you're acting, I don't know, normal. I mean…what the heck? And while we're at it, how am I still moving after that fight last night?" I said, rubbing the back of my head for a pain that wasn't there, but I felt should be.

She was in the middle of taking her last bite of chicken, but stopped after hearing my question. She put the fork she was holding down on her plate and looked at me. She grinned. "Because you're mine now." She said in a 'matter o fact' kind of way. "In the end, as daughter of the enderdragon, I am allowed whatever I want so long as I can fight and win for it." She said. "That's what my father taught me and its why I'm one of the top competitors at these games." She paused to eat her last bite. "Oh, and you had a potion of healing on you last night. So, I just had you drink it."

I stared at her, stunned. "I wasn't going to use that!" I nearly shouted, running a hand hard through the back of my hair. "Dang it! How do I know if that was safe to drink?" I asked myself.

She shrugged. "It seems to have worked."

I shook my head. "Not what I meant…" I focused my eyes back on her. "And you don't 'have me', by the way. I'm not an object. You don't 'win' a person." I said, more than a little irritated.

She moved closer to me, eyes tinted with a hint of irritation, no doubt from my own. "I am the daughter of the enderdragon. I take what I please when I so desire." She said with compelling conviction. "And if I can't get what I want, I do whatever I have to in order to get it."

"Well, you can't have me!" I nearly shouted. "I am not some freaking toy or prize!" I jumped to my feet immediately, putting some distance between me and her. "And as far as I see, I never will be, even if I have to fight every day against you." I looked straight into her mystic, purple eyes. "And believe me, I will."

She narrowed her eyes at me and rose to her feet. I readied myself into a fighting stance, ready for a rematch. Even if I didn't have a chance in hell of winning, I would still fight. She stopped a couple feet away and I half expected her to teleport to me for an attack, but instead, she just smirked.

"I can see you're serious. That's fine. I like that." She said, her smirk slowly fading away. "But having you at odds with me all the time isn't what I want either. So, here is what I propose…"

"Woah, woah, wait. Are you trying to make a _deal_ with me?" I asked, shocked.

"Yes." She said simply. Man, this girl never ceased to surprise me! "Now, as I was saying, here is what I propose. The event will be starting in the next twenty minutes. It is a game of capture the flag between all the team members. If my team wins, then you will be mine for as long as I see fit. And if you win…"

"You leave me alone." I said.

She seemed a little taken aback by my interruption, but complied. "Fine. If you win, I'll 'leave you alone'. That is what I have to offer." She walked up to me and offered her hand. "Do we have a deal?"

I looked hesitantly at the hand. "And what happens if neither of us win?" I asked.

"Then nothing will change." She replied.

So basically, if I didn't win, I'd have to deal with Andr's twisted behavior anyway. And if I really lost, I'd basically be a slave. I had a feeling that this wasn't exactly a fair bet, but what other choice did I have? I really didn't want to have to fight against her every day for the rest of my time here. It wouldn't just be detrimental to me, but to my team as well. I sighed. Sometimes, you just gotta suck it up and take the raw deal.

I took her hand "Fine." I said.

She smiled and suddenly, I was teleported to my room. "Then I can't wait until the end of this event," she said with another smirk, "Good luck Zyeke."

She _whooped_ out of my room just as quickly as she came. I let out a long exhale and flopped onto my bed. I felt mentally drained after that talk, more from the sheer audacity of it all than anything.

I suppose now, I really _had_ to win that event.

"Morning Zyeke!" Cupa chirped. "You sleep well last night? We went to check on you later on in the evening, but you didn't answer your door."

I had since prepared for the upcoming event in the little time I had. Not that I really did anything. The only thing I really needed was my staff, which should be full operational now. Only problem was, I couldn't find it! I searched my room and turned it upside down for about five minutes before I gave up. I remembered the last time I used it was when I was fighting Hilda. Dang, it could be anywhere by now. All that work…wasted. I sighed for what must have been the umpteenth time that was running out and I had decided to leave without my precious weapon. I'd just have to make do with my fists.

The walk to the courtyard was uneventful, much to my relief and it had taken almost no energy to spot my teammates over by the fountain. And now, Cupa was greeting me.,

I scratched the back of my head nervously. "Sorry about that. Guess I must have fallen asleep early.

"It's nothing to apologize about, silly. You fall asleep, you fall asleep." She said with her usual bright smile. I couldn't help but smile back. I don't know what it is about Cupa, but she always seems to cheer me up and get me in a better mood. Maybe that was just because she always seemed to be in a good mood herself. "Oh!" She said, as if remembering something. She knelt over the fountain and pulled out…my staff! "Thought you might want this. We kind of took it after your fight with Hilda. I guess I forgot to give it back to you." She said, slightly embarrassed.

I laughed and took it from her. "Don't be. You probably kept it more safe than I could have." I said with a smile. She beamed back in happiness.

Melinda came up to me and looked me over. I was a little surprised at her lack of shyness, until she noticed I was watching her and blushed. "You…look much better." She said, backing away slowly next to her creeper friend.

As much as I wasn't sure I should have taken the potion, even if it wasn't of my own accord, I figured telling her might brighten her up. "Yep, sure do. That potion you made worked wonders." I said truthfully. A small smile spread across Melinda's face and I was glad to see it.

I spotted Ramirez a few feet away, sharpening his rapier. I excused myself from the two ladies and went over to say hi. He looked very immersed in his activity, but still acknowledged my presence when I approach. When I asked if I could sit down, he nodded, so I took a seat next to him. "Morning." I said, trying to break the ice.

"Morning." He replied back in much the same way.

"Not being social with the other teammates?" I asked teasingly.

A small smirk broke across his face. "Nah man. Just making sure my weapon's ready to shave off some pumpkin heads." I gave him a confused look and he just chuckled. "I enchanted it with sharpness V and let me tell you…" He put down his sharpener and held his sword out towards a small flower in the grass. With a flick of his wrist, the thing blade swept across the poor daffodil. But, after the swipe it didn't move.

I was beginning to think he'd missed, but after a couple seconds, the flower broke away from its stem, sliced in a perfect diagnol. "Damn dude, that's cool." I said, amazed.

"Yeah." He said. "Believe it or not, I can get the same results with a pumpkin. Slice it clean in half faster than rip current can flip a surfer off his board." He said with a chuckle. He sheath his sword around his waist and pocketed his sharpener. "You ready for this man?"

I took out my obsidian staff. "Yeah, got an upgrade myself."

Ramirez whistled. "A lot better than they could have done on Earth, that's for sure, nice dude." His eyes glanced back towards our teammates, who were talking amongst themselves happily. Ramirez slapped me on the back and told me I was right, he probably should make some attempt at socialization.

I laughed as he walked up to the two girls. He must of said something funny, because they all burst out laughing. Must have been some cheesy pick up liner, I thought with a chuckle of my own. Someone was missing though. There was only four of us, which left one more to…

"Hello Zyeke." I heard a chilling voice say from behind me.

I really did jump this time and spun around fast to see Heroine with a huge grin on her face. "Jeez Heroine, don't do that!" I said, still feeling the jitters from the sudden scare. Dang, she was really quiet! How had she snuck up on me like that? I'm usually very aware of my surroundings.

"No promises." She said with her strange giggle.

Once I had recovered enough, I tried to make an actual nice conversation. "So, did you sleep well?" I asked.

"I don't sleep, but the night was nice if that answers you're question." She said.

Surprised, I stumbled on my next sentence. "Seriously? Wha…what do you even do with all that time?" I asked. I really was curious to know. Having to kill both the night and day everyday sounded like it would get dull unless you had something to do. Almost like leading two lives.

"I read, take walks out in the wilderness, and watch people while they sleep." She said plainly.

I couldn't help but burst out laughing, thinking she was just messing with me. However, the she kept the same face she had before and rasied an eyebrow as if to say: 'You think I'm kidding?'. I was suddenly very grateful that I had stayed with Andr the night before. Her bedroom had no windows.

Before I had to worry about having to respond to that creepy information, a loud booming voice swept over the grounds. I recognized it as the skeleton king's. "Contestants! We will now begin the very first challenge of the twenty-fifth annual monster games! Prepare for teleportation!"

And just like that, we were taken from the peaceful surroundings of the courtyard to the battleground where the game of capture the flag would soon take place.

We had arrived in some sort of contained area. Bedrock was visible about a hundred blocks up and I could only assume there was more to make up the walls. The land around us was a splite between a jungle biome and a plains biome, each taking up one end of the limited space. We were placed in a small fort made out of netherbrick. I guessed this was our "base" and I saw similar bases built by different minecraft boxes arranged in a circle. To our left, there were a variety of houses set on the plains biome, some small villagers-like houses, and some were the equivalent to villas or chateaus. To our right, the jungle biome was just as you'd expect a jungle biome to be. There were tall jungle trees stretched as far as the eye could see. Some had cocoa beans and some didn't, but all of them were bare from the bottom to the top, vines hanging only from the very top leaves.

Another voice boomed through the event arena, though this, it wasn't the skeleton king. "Good morning contestants. It is I, the enderdragon! I will be the guest host for this year's first event. A flag has been made for each team that corresponds with your base designs. In order to win this event, you must find your team's flag and bring it back to your base." He paused. "There are many spots in which to hide these flags. It could be hidden in the highest treetop, in the darkest corner of a house, or even right under your noses." Another pause. "The game will begin at the sound of the tnt cannon. Good luck to you all!"

And with that, there was silence. Nobody moved, nobody talked. I was about to suggest where we should go to start looking when there was a monstrous explosion somewhere out of sight. Immeidately, Heroine burst forward, the other princesses following suite. Well, since she had played these games before, perhaps she knew where to start looking. I look at Ramirez and he just shrugged. I did the same and we took off after our teammates.

The games had officially begun.

**Hey guys, here's the next chapter update! Hope you all enjoyed. I apologize again for the lack of updates, but that was only due to studying and preparing for my finals at college. With those out of the way, I should be able to update more regularly. Also, I am working on fanart for my other story "Blazing Inferno", doing the main character RED (Still open to drawings done by other artists by the way, hint hint, nudge nudge :P). I will do another, better one, for this story after I am finished with that. However, I'm not sure which character I want to do, so I am asking you guys. Who do you think I should draw or what scene from the story so far would look awesome? Let me know in a review as well as how the chapter came out. The games will officially start next chapter and I promise to do the whole thing :P. Don't forget to follow/favorite if you haven't already and please VOTE AND REVIEW! XD. Until next time.**


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